After securing a landslide victory in the largest democratic elections, the Narendra Modi led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) on Thursday formed their government in a swearing in ceremony. In the biggest ever event at the Rastrapati Bhavan in New Delhi, there were not invites for any of Tibetan leaders based in India!
In 2014, Lobsang Sangay, the President of the Central Tibetan Administration in exile was among the array of high-profile guests who watched Modi being sworn in at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. However, this time the Tibetan leader has not been invited according to an official of the CTA, to the swearing in ceremony of Modi’s second term.
After Narendra Modi’s party emerged as the single largest majority party of the Indian general elections on May 23, the Tibetan leader extended his official congratulatory statement. He wrote in the statement that he hopes the bond shared between India and Tibet will continue to remain strong and India will continue to support the just cause of Tibet.
Besides the Tibetan leadership, the Modi’s swearing in ceremony was sans of any official representatives from Taiwan. The bigger question now is has the Modi 2.0 shifted its stance with regard to Tibet in its dealings with China? An obvious clarity from this incident is that India is trying to avoid any unnecessary clash with China.
As the report in The Wire suggest, with India set to host President Xi Jinping for the second informal summit later this year, the exclusion of any Tibetan leader at the swearing in ceremony is a sign that both sides do not want to take any steps that will irk the other and shatter the current momentum in relations.