Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: Amid fresh tension between China and India over their simmering border dispute, the top Buddhist spiritual leader and the 14th Dalai Lama, known as Gyalwa Rinpoche to the Tibetan people, has said he has no plans to return to China.
The Tibetans’ highest spiritual leader and former head of the country, the Dalai Lama, 87, said on Monday that Kangra in Himachal Pradesh is his “permanent residence,” and that he would not consider returning to China.
He has been living in Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh, when he and his entourage escaped into exile after the Chinese troops brutally suppressed the Tibetan national uprising in Lhasa in 1959.
In a message to China, following the recent clash between Indian and Chinese troops in Arunachal Pradesh’s Tawang, he said “things are improving in general in Europe, Africa, and Asia.”
“China is also becoming a little flexible. But there is no point in returning to China. I prefer India… it’s the best place.”
The December 9 clash in Tawang was the first since the stand-off between troops of both countries in the sensitive Galwan Valley of Ladakh in June 2020.
“There is no point to return to China. I prefer India. The best place,” the Dalai Lama said during a brief interaction with media persons.
“Kangra — Pandit Nehru’s choice, this place is my permanent residence,” he added with a smile.
A Nobel Peace Laureate, the Dalai Lama was born Lhamo Thondup on June 6, 1935. Two years later, he was identified as the 14th incarnation of the Dalai Lama and moved to the holy city of Lhasa, the capital of Tibet.
In October 1950, thousands of Chinese soldiers marched into Tibet and declared it part of Communist China. Over the next few years, China tightened its grip on Tibet, and resistance to its rule began to spread.
When the situation became increasingly volatile, the Dalai Lama, fearing for his life at the hands of Chinese soldiers, escaped from Tibet into neighboring India in 1959.
Then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru granted him political asylum and he has since been living in McLeodganj in Himachal Pradesh’s Kangra district. He was less than 25 years old when he began his life in exile.
At present, the Dalai Lama leads the Tibetan government-in-exile and remains hopeful of dialogue with Chinese authorities to secure Tibet’s freedom.