Krishna Menon, the former pro-Communist Indian Minister of Defence, an irrepressible, irreconcilable and irascible force in Indian politics, is in London for four or five days to proselytize for Bangla Desh. He will speak tonight at the Commonwealth Institute Theatre before the first showing here of Refugees 1971. a documentary film on the Pakistan refugees made by Indians, (“I wall not necessarily stay for the film—I have seen some of the camps in Calcutta for myself already”).

He will also address meetings over the weekend in familiar stamping grounds: the Conway Hall, and the Mahatma Ghandi Hall in the YMCA.

While he is here Menon, who is in his mid-70s, will be meeting some of our MPs: does he hope to influence them in favour of recognition for Bangla Desh? “One does not hope for anything any more in these days. We only do what we can.”

As for his own peculiarly varied political career (he used to be a borough councillor in St Pancras): “I survive—we scrape through and struggle on.” Twice defeated in Bombay elections in 1967, he now sits comfortably on a 25,000 majority in his home state of Kerala: “not bad at all when you think that the whole Establishment was ranged in opposition to me and I am an independent without any party”.