Honoured guest

The Nobel Peace Prize winning leader of Tibetan Buddhists, the Dalai Lama, has been an unceasing crusader for the freedom of his people, their homeland having been forcibly annexed by China and their traditional way of life put to peril. It was 50 years ago thatTibetan patriots owing allegiance to their leader had risen up in an ill-fated attempt to oust the Chinese from Tibet. The rebellion was ruthlessly crushed andthe Dalai Lama forced to flee to India. Given the isolationist and hostile stance adopted by the leadership behind the Bamboo Curtain in those days, it took courage on the part of the Jawaharlal Nehru Government to have given him and his loyalists shelter, even allowing them to form aTibetan Government in exile. India had paid a heavy price for this act, it being one of the reasons for the 1962 India-China war, with India suffering a crushing defeat at the hands of the Chinese army. Having set up his headquarters in Dharamsala, the Dalai Lama has since then been touring the world in what now appears to be a hopeless political quest, encountering quite a few rebuffs in the course of his odyssey. For instance Barack Obama, the President of the nation with pretensions of being synonymous with freedom, had declined to meetthe Dalai Lama in fear that it might jeopardise the increasingly cordial diplomatic and commercial relations with the Chinese.

Most recently, Japanese Prime Minister Yokio Hatoyama, had expressed inability to meet the visiting spiritual head citing “tight schedule.” Ironically, Hatoyama as leader of the opposition had been a vocal supporter forTibetan autonomy. National self-interest and not idealism governs international relationships. With China becoming an economic powerhouse, it is but natural thatthe Dalai Lama is being increasingly given the short shrift by global leaders. In this context the decision by the Indian Government not to bow down before pressure tactics of China and allowthe Dalai Lama ’s visit to Tawang to go ahead as scheduled is praiseworthy. China has been repeatedly criticising this trip as a “separatist” activity and askingIndia not to allow it, while accusing the Dalai Lama of trying to “wreck” Indian-China ties. In imparting a political twist to the visit, China has conveniently ignored the fact thatthe Dalai Lama is also the supreme spiritual head of Buddhism, and is obliged in that capacity to visit revered Buddhist monasteries such as the one in Tawang. China too has ignored the fact that it will be theTibetan leader’s fifth visit to Tawang, so the diatribe launched by it during this trip is uncalled for. The Dalai Lama is an honoured guest in our country and, by allowing the trip to Tawang to go ahead. India has firmly and clearly reiterated this reality.ASSAM TRIBUNE