In a Free Land

What many observers of the Dalai Lama politico-spiritual process have failed to discern is his subtle assertion that the ways of a free land are so different and ennobling. The symbolism of his visit to Tawang, therefore, has this dimension, too, of India’s — whose ‘‘honoured guest’’ he is — celebration of freedom stemming from its democratic tradition. From Tawang it is as though the Dalai Lama was asking China to recognize its fundamental differences with India in the matter of cherishing any people’s pristine culture and tradition. In Tibet, which China invaded in 1950, the Tibetans have no freedom at all, not even to practise their faith freely, thanks to Communist authoritarianism and the majority Han diktats. In contrast, the Tibetans who have taken refuge in India are an absolutely free people as far as practice and propagation of their faith — Tibetan Buddhism — is concerned. And who knows this fact of life better than the Dalai Lama himself, witness to the undeterred flourish of Tibetan Buddhism right from Ladhak to Tawang over the past five decades ever since he fled Tibet along with about 80,000 Tibetans to save themselves from persecution by the invading Chinese and to keep the spirit of Tibet alive. His frank admission after landing in Tawang — ‘‘I am happy with this visit for two reasons. There was so much anxiety, stress and a feeling of helplessness when I first came here in 1959. I was weak, both physically and mentally. I felt safe when I saw a long-time friend from the (Indian) Ministry of External Affairs waiting for me at the border. That is why I have visited Tawang so many times. The other reason why I am happy is that the people here take genuine interest in Tibetan Buddhism and Buddhist culture. Right from Ladhak to Tawang, Tibetan Buddhism is practised traditionally’’ — is in fact a message to the theocratic and authoritarian world that India is such a wonderful country to live in and practise one’s faith without any fear.

As former Foreign Secretary Muchkund Dubey rightly said, China has no reasons to protest the Dalai Lama’s visit to Tawang or any other part of Arunachal Pradesh because he is ‘‘our honoured guest and free to move anywhere in the country’’, while the ‘‘Chinese position on the issue is well known. They don’t need to assert it in an unpleasant way. It reflects their complex. It looks they are in a weak position on Tibet’’. The Dalai Lama’s is a unique political struggle, infused with spiritualism, quite like the Mahatma’s. One should recall what he said after receiving the Nobel Prize for Peace on December 10, 1989: ‘‘The prize reaffirms our conviction that with truth, courage and determination as our weapons, Tibet will be liberated. Our struggle must remain non-violent and free from hatred.’’ Words of a prophet. However, Communist China’s problem is that it is unable to come to terms with values that embellish and sharpen the Dalai Lama’s ‘‘weapons’’. Is there, therefore, really a complex that Beijing suffers from and is struggling to conceal? After all, is it not Beijing’s sanction that human rights violations be completely overlooked in the enterprise towards a greater Communist empire? No surprise, though; it happens in a land that disallows its own people the greatest thing in this world — freedom. Who is free in China except its rulers? THE SENTINEL