A Himachal Pradesh state minister had skipped the Central Tibetan Administration’s official 59th Tibetan National Uprising day’s commemorative function at Dharamshala earlier this month on March 10. Tibetan leaders have been shocked at the disclosure of the circular among Indian government functionaries to avoid Tibetan events since the beginning of this month.
“In a major shock to the Tibetan administration in Dharamsala, state minister Kishan Kapoor, who was invited as the chief guest at the official function to commemorate the 59th anniversary of the Tibetan National Uprising Day, skipped the event. ” said the report in the Times of India earlier this month.
Though the annual commemorative function of the Tibetan National Uprising day was successfully held at the presence of the chief guest Shri George Baker, a BJP MP at the main temple in Dharamshala, the impact of the central government’s directive seems to be taking its effects on Tibetan events.
While the Tibetan administration is planning to hold a yearlong series of ‘Thank You India’ events across the country, it is worrisome that many government functionaries, especially seniors, are likely to skip the scheduled events. More importantly, the recently concluded Indian Science Congress held in Manipur initially announcing the Tibetan spiritual leader His Holiness Dalai Lama as the chief guest along with PM Narendra Modi as the inaugural speaker, His Holiness had reportedly withdrew from the event to save PM Modi from facing him at the critical juncture.
New Delhi and Beijing are schedule to serve series of diplomatic visits and ties in the months to come. These diplomatic engagements between the two Asian giants have come at the cost of India now publicly displaying a steep turn in the government’s stand on Tibetans and the Dalai Lama. However, the Tibetan spiritual leader as well as Tibetan political leaders publicly informed that they would follow as the host government directs, with a hope that good relations between the two could be beneficial for the resolution of the Tibet cause.