Sayyid Abd al-Rahman al-Mahdi – for example – formed an advisory council to preserve the distinct identity of Sudan to reach the position and aspirations of the Sudanese people under the new regime. In any case, he withdrew from all these efforts in forming the Graduates' Congress in February 1938. As I explained in the arguments I previously presented, Sayyid Abd al-Rahman, when his interests clashed with those of the government, took his own path. He circumvented the prohibitions and powers that the government surrounded him with through his influence in the traditional centers of the Mahdiya, and established for himself. By 1935, the government felt that he constituted a dangerous element, as he could become a symbol for the intellectuals, uniting them with traditional and religious elements into a solid political front with national appeal, which one official in the Foreign Ministry described as "a thorn in the side of the government." (20) To neutralize Sayyid Abd al-Rahman's growing influence and to counter the Egyptian hostility and activity that the 1936 agreement would bring, Stewart Symes, who took over as Governor-General after Monck in 1934-1935, decided to abandon his predecessor's anti-intellectual policy and even actively cooperate with them. He encouraged the formation of the Graduates' Congress in the hope of finding close support from the government regarding Sudanese policy. However, events soon showed that Symes was playing with fire. The honeymoon between the Congress and the government quickly ended. The Graduates, who were supporters of the British in 1940, quickly turned, and the Ansar organization under their leadership became the Umma Party, which played an important role in Sudan's history. The New Mahdiya in the Forties and Fifties. To the extent that it gained steady popularity in the thirties, the New Mahdiya and the leadership of Sayyid Abd al-Rahman al-Mahdi, which was almost undisputed, faced serious challenges in the forties and fifties. This is mainly due to the growth of national extremism on the Sudanese political scene at that time. By the forties, the majority of educated Sudanese felt that the slogan "Sudan for the Sudanese" was not sincere, but rather a tool to cover up British plans to prolong their control over the nation. Thus, they became suspicious of the intentions of the main Sudanese proponent of that slogan, Sayyid Abd al-Rahman al-Mahdi. For the second time, they revived the twenties slogan "Unity of the Nile Valley," which they later claimed was their means to achieve the country's independence. It is worth mentioning in this context that this old slogan had undergone modifications even within 16