Coll 29/107(1) 'Hamadan: monthly diary' [‎39r] (78/105)

FILE GORY U
COPY
(E 4892/2133/34)
CONFIDENTIAL.
27w:
Hamadan Monthly -^jary.
April 1946.
4F
Political.
1. Throughout the month the Tudeh party steadily continued to
build-up and consolidate their position# indeed, there was no
opposition, far less any concerted movement or action taken against
them. Absolutely no landowners of note remained in the city - the
majority having fled to Tehran or having been seized with an apparently
irresistable desire to visit Karbala and other places of pilgrimage#
Until the arrival on 18th April ALI REZA QARAGOZLU, (BAHA-OL-MOLK)
the only representative of the wealthy Qaragozlu family was a junior
member, GHOLAM HOSSEIN KHAN AMIRI. Several important people are,
however, expected to return to Hamadan shortly. One is the Majles
deputy HASSAN ALI FARMAND QARAGOZLU, (ZIA-OL-MOLK) and another is
SEYYED NASROLLAH BANISADR. Banisadr has great influence in the town,
especially among the mollahs, and since he seems to have made an
amicable agreement with HOSSEIN GHOLI KHAN QARAGOZLU, (AMIR NEZAM) his
weight may well turn the scales in favour of the "reactionary" elements
in the General Election. The Qaragozlus may put forward two candidates,
and in any case the other deputy, HASSAN MOKHBAR FARAHMAND, does not
appear to have much chance of re-election.
2. RAHIM NAMVAR, editor of the newspaper "Shahbaz", spent a week
in Hamadan, (see para. 11 March Diary) in an effort to form a coalition
of the left-wing parties so that they should have a greater chance of
returning a deputy to the Majles. It now seems certain that MOHANDES
KEIVAN (para. 3 March Diary) will stand as their principal candidate.
The Tudeh have organised classes to inculate in their followers the
principals for which they are to vote.
3. AHMAD SALAHI, Governor of Hamadan, returned from Tehran on
8 th April. On his way he called at Razan, 53ni* north of Hamadan, and
dismissed the Governor there for inefficiency. Arriving in Hamadan,
he announced that he was no longer obliged to refer matters to the
Ustandar in Kermanshah, but was entitled to deal directly with the
Ministry'of the interior. He had obtained this concession because he
disliked the thought of working under EETEBAR-UD-DOWLEH, who had been
appointed Ustandar but who showed no signs of being anxious to take up
his post. Salahi was soon engulfed in a pent-up flood of petitions —
and complaints of maladministration, and bent again to the exacting
task of pleasing all and offending none — the policy on which he depends
to maintain control. He scoffed at the suggestion made by Col.
EMAMVERDI, O.C. Hamadan garrison, that the town should be put under
military law and that a curfew should be brought into operation. He
does not consider that the situation either within or beyond the city
boundaries gives any cause fbr uneasiness.
4. • One result of Salah^s visit to Tehran was the dismissal of
YUSSEF RAHMANZADEH, Chief of the Justice department. This is a blow
which weakens the local administration immensely, because Rahmanzadeh
was a man of considerable integrity and probity, and worked conscientiously
and relatively honestly. His removal seems to have been a spiteful act
on the part of Salahi. The latter had demanded to see a certain secret
dossier, and Rahmanzadeh - fully within his rights - had refused. Up
to the present no successor has been appointed, though the name of
/BIRASHK,