1)Introduction
The ever-growing relationship between India and Tibet dates back to the seventh century when the great king Songtsen Ganpo sent sixteen students to India to study. Among them, Thunmi Sangpo Dak the only one to be able to return back alive invented the present Tibetan script after cultivating enough Indian resources in the fertile soil of his sharp mind. So it is very obvious that the Indo-Tibetan relationship was germinated from a seed between a brilliantly lucky disciple and a resourcefully generous teacher, From this seed, there started to grow roots, trunk, branches and leaves.
When I was in Tibet I had heard so many good things about India, the land to which we use to call- Gyakar phaphe yul1. We are very lucky to have a good and strong connection with this Noble Land where many worldly-famous personalities took their birth since the time immemorial. But nowadays I feel that there is a possible degeneration and degradation in the very base of the ancient Indo-Tibetan friendship due to minor conflicts between Tibetans and the local Indians. I had heard from my elders that there was a great mishap between the local Indians and Tibetans somewhere around 1994 at Lower Dharamsala. They gathered, came and wanted to set afire the Tibetan handcraft centre, the Tibetan official houses and anything that belonged to the Tibetans in the vicinity. Our leader even had to express his willingness to leave the country if they were determined to approve that it was their only decision on the Tibetans. At that time I do not know whether I should say fortunately or unfortunately, some western countries during that time expressed their readiness to welcome him and his people at anytime. However in the name of god, the flaming anger in hearts of the local Indians was diminished and gradually distinguished when the local authorities played a healing interference. As a consequence, the raging ocean calmed eventually and the throngs dispersed at eventide. In this way our leader, our government and our people could stay in the Noble Land continuously.
But sad to say that, some minor disputes have never ended to occur between the local Indians and the Tibetan people. My heart shivers like a grass in front of the spring wind when I set my pointed concentration on this particular predicament. I am afraid that the reoccurrence of these minor conflicts would one day lead to another incident like that of the1994. It may also give birth to even more horrible and dangerous ones with accumulation of heat through the passage of the galloping time. Therefore it is very important for us to think before act and to act err everything is too late. But with my little knowledge and shallow experience I feel that to acknowledge the role played by the government and people of The Noble Land in our history, at our present and for our unpredictable future is one of the most effective steps to retain the long-existed friendship, to maintain it unchanged and most importantly to develop it further towards a stronger and more stable one.
2) India in Defense of Tibetan Independence
In 1951, the Chinese communism under Mao overtook Tibet simply by using the power of arms and forced the Tibetan delegates to sign the imposed ‘Seventeen Points Agreement’. After winning the signature and seal of the Tibetan delegates representing Ganden Phutrah2, the Chinese leaders thought and acted as though they had been the undisputable owner of the Tibetan land and the real parents of the Tibetan people. They did never say that they came to invade Tibet and control the Tibetans but rather to free them from the clutch of poverty and backwardness.
At that time, India also did verbally protest against the forceful but facially-kind –appeared occupation of Tibet; leaders like Dr. Rammanohar Lohia3 emancipated, “To call the invasion of Tibet an effort to liberate six million Tibetans is to make language lose all meaning and stop all human communication and understanding”. But a verbal expression of protest was too far away from making an effect on the Chinese leaders as their ears are made of steel and their hearts by mixed iron. Therefore they started taking more advantages and stronger autocratic authorities on Tibetans in Tibet. They not only claimed Tibet as an inseparable part of China, but also put her disastrous hand inside the bag of Tibetan community and commenced to grope at everything including her religion, culture, tradition, administration etc.
Seeing this as a death's bosom for the Tibetans and a dangerous paw over Indian themselves they entered into the agreement with China at that time popularly known as ‘Panchsheel Agreement’. It was in this agreement at Ceylon in 1954 that India under Nehru, recognized Chinese occupation of Tibet, because Chinese Prime Minister Zhou Enlai agreed the condition that a strong country should not attack a weaker one. In another words China also accepted to respect Tibetan autonomy, which I think was truly better than the situation going on in Tibet during that particular period of time. But later on, Chinese leaders’ action appeared to be far away from adhering to their own words of promise as they have had always be habituated. If they had stayed tight to their words, the atmosphere created by that agreement would not have been less than the one we have always been looking for with a longing spirit.
Like this and that the critical situation in Tibet kept on deteriorating with the communist-mischief-making that in 1956, H, H, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama had to flee to his friend Nehru in India. Once again Zhou Enlai assured that Tibet’s autonomy would be respected and there would not be interference with economic, social and religious life of the Tibetan people. Getting all these assurances from China through India, he returned back to his country with a hope of their faithfulness this time at his friend’s request. But as the subsequent and also the preceding actions have always proved that Chinese leaders never believed in enacting the assurances came out of their mouths with their own will. In consequence to these, the accumulated heat became stronger and larger with the growing cruelty and bravery of China that in 1959 our people’s hearts finally busted out, not out of sheer will but rather helplessness and exhausted patience. Alas! Our compassionate leader H, H, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama had to leave his country and seek refuge in India at the tenderness of his inexperienced young age as an inevitable product of this.
3) India in Tibetan Freedom Struggle
Fortunately India greeted with her arms wide open our young leader H, H, The Fourteenth Dalai Lama along with his nearly a ten-thousand Tibetan fellows, and sheltered them from being wet by the tempest of Chinese invasion or fallen by the storm of exile hardships. Since then she has not only been providing shelters and other essential facilities to the Tibetans coming to their Noble Land. But also though not very actively took part in Tibetan freedom struggle at her level. They started criticizing the Chinese leaders and their unrealistic policy in Tibet which has made the Tibetans suffer inequality on their own land before the eyes of law; Atal Vajpayee in Lok Sabha in 1959 said, “In 1930, Mao said that they have made the constitution in such a way that if somebody wants to go out, he can. Tibetans did not speak about going out, they wanted to keep their separate existence but even this permission was not given to them”. From this we can infer that they have understood the gap between the Chinese expression of Tibet and China as one country and their contradictory action of putting it into rational action.
Moreover seeing the Chinese leaders did not live up to their own words of promise and assurance on Tibet, India stood out at last to support Tibetan independence. In a presidential address delivered at the all-India-convention on Tibet at Calcutta in May 1959, it was said, “India recognized Tibet as a country by itself but which had sometimes passed under Chinese suzerainty by virtue of conquest and never by free will”. Their first and foremost expectation was a harmonious coexistence between Tibet and China despite it being through one and half nation or two whole, which in turn casts over their country a shadow of coolness for safety and security. But no more stone was left to be turned for this purpose except to unveil the real fact in depth of truth as they came to learn that their sincere endeavor had not been more than taking a brute into good consideration and guide him as much as possible. It was also in the same address, they made it clear that India had from time to time expressed her firm belief to continue the bond of friendship of mutual understanding with china. But if china shrewdly sought to exploit it for only unjust and self-centered purposes then she could never ever be a partner to commit a crime which could hardly be confessed by any means at any time.
Alas! India even received threatening and warnings from China for sympathizing the Tibetans so much. But nothing could browbeat them to do something which they clearly know is a crime, nor could be delivered from doing the thing that they considered necessary and important. In 1965 India supported the UN resolution on question of Tibet, of which earlier she had been feeling unnecessary due to the China’s promises and assurances which they had never expected to be as unreliable as the Chinese leaders had proved after all. Her representatives explained that the Tibetans were made to live like hewers of wood and drawers of water. They solemnly urged the UNO not to stay mute to the critical things happening inside Tibet. At the same time they also promised to continue to give the Dalai Lama and his people their affordable facilities and possible hospitalities. India tried almost every possible means to resolve locally the Tibetan issue by themselves but her cooperator sold and then bought back her every time. So eventually they were left with only the opportunity to try it internationally on UN’s table.
4) India in Building Tibetan Future
India has really been burning at the both ends of their ability to alleviate the sufferings and hardships of Tibetan people despite the occurrence of some minor controversies with some local Indians on few occasions. Particularly when they came to learn for quite certain that Tibetans are still going to be remained in India for a longer period of time, they started taking a new step in facilitating the Tibetan people to keep their Tibetan-ness and to fulfill their guest for freedom. They are now coming towards the direction in building the future of the Tibetan people; the great Indian orator Shavkara said, “The youth does not form hundred percent of the country at present but they do form the hundred percent of the country in the future”. So when we talk about the Tibetan future we mostly refer to the Tibetan youngsters, especially their knowledge and morality. We are struggling for our freedom by peaceful means, therefore a proper and high level of education has become extremely important for us. Moreover our moral performance is of no less importance as being the sincere and faithful followers of the leader who is always preaching about the moral values like love, compassion, altruism etc. For these they are allowing the Tibetans build many schools and Buddhist institutes which are well isolated and protected from any danger of degeneration or being intruded by other cultures from the environmental influence.
Nowadays more and more Tibetan Secondary Schools are being granted the privilege of appearing for the board of All India Secondary School Examination (AISSE). On the other side our Tibetan students after the class twelve matriculation can get admission to the top colleges with lower marks or percentages as compared to the Indians their own citizens; We can get admission to a top college with percentage around 70% or above, where as an Indian hardly be admitted even with percentage around 80%. What does this show? Is it that they have too many empty seats in their college so that they accept the Tibetans in this way? Or is it that they have a special consideration for our condition and our needs???
A more gracious act is the chance granted to the Tibetans to establish more and higher centers for learning. At present the construction of a Tibetan college at Bangalore is in process and now it is almost completed and already under half operation. It is a very significant leap for the Tibetans in protecting and fertilizing their minds with both Tibetanist wisdom as well as modern education. It is really indispensable for our search and emphasis on the specialization of studies. It is just a beginning step and if the Chinese do not allow the Tibetans return very soon, then I am cent percent sure that they will grant Tibetans the chance to establish even Tibetan universities if our expense favors.
Another thing that is so currently happening for the Tibetans is the free registration of the Indian Registration Certificate for Tibetans (RC). This is something that the Tibetans, especially those from Tibet have always been looking forward with rabbit ears and frog eyes. During the initial interval, every Tibetan could easily and almost freely get the RC as it had been during the earlier beginning. However the Tibetan Government in exile prevented it later on, so nowadays only the school children or the Tibetans under the protection of a Tibetan institute could assess to the free registration of RC. It is very gracious of them to grant such facilities or opportunities to the Tibetans. More recently there is a news from Dharamshala that some senior Tibetan have to renew their RC only with six years of interval. Generally just registering the RC in such a way does not mean that much, but India herself on her small ship, has a population of second largest in the world after China. It is very clear that free registration of RC means more Tibetans in exile on Indian land and more people on Indian land leads to less scope of development in every field.
But despite anything like this, the government and people of India had been, are staying very close, even closer these days to the promise they have made on the UN’s table in 1965. I think they have been doing all these not merely because of a promise, but mainly because of the strong bond they have with Tibet through the long history, geography, language, religion and culture.
5)Conclusion
It is crystal-clear that there will neither occur any communal controversy nor should even an individual conflict between Indians and Tibetans when we come to the end this article by understanding each and everything it talks about. But still the Indian people have their sense of pride of belonging to a free and independent nation on the one hand. On the other hand we Tibetans have our tension and pain of being compelled into exile to lead a life of refugee. So between this sense of pride and the feeling of pain slumber many buds of individual conflict, which very often become germinated when being nurtured by instigating water of Chinese spies. This is something both we Tibetans and our Indians brothers and sisters have to take great consideration for the sake of an ever-green consciousness and cautiousness.
If I put some of my personal experiences for the sake of an easier step to comprehend what I actually want to convey through this article, sometimes I face many minor injustices and unfairness from some Indian people. As a result very often, though truly not practicable, I use to feel all prepared to fight if another injustice will be made to me. But with a second thought the image of my country comes before the dark cloud of my self importance and ego. In this way I could overcome this childish thought every time. I do not have any doubt that majority of the Tibetans, if not all have the same feeling like me, this kind of feeling is a big obstacle to the strong bond between Indians and Tibetans. Therefore in one way the other we should and must put both our heart and soul to understand the role played by India in our life, then it will be easy and acceptable for us to tolerate any minor injustice like the ones we face while traveling or doing business. If we feel upset because of such little minor mistreatments what about the Nepalese then, who treat our people far worse than the some of the Indian people? However please remember, I do not mean that we should tolerate mistreatments beyond the context of law. Moreover any mishap between our people and the local Indians is a gift of bliss for our enemies who had butchered and are killing our brothers and sisters in Tibet like expression-deprived animals. Then would you- my countrymen ever like to make your enemies happy when they are happy at your misfortunes and mishaps only???
Most of we Tibetans feel that it is only we Tibetans whom are being mistreated, but if we look carefully and examine thoughtfully we will find that we Tibetans also mistreat our Indian brothers and sisters on many occasions. So in fact there is no necessity for us to be upset because of some minor mistreatments done to us by few Indians. It is year by year becoming clearer and clearer that we shall have to stay in exile for a still longer period of time. Then why do not we bury the individual conflicts and prevent them from bringing a communal controversy? This is what is going to remove the wet leather cap of Chinese invasion upon our head in the end!
In a nut shell, my sole aim in choosing this topic and weaving this article is nothing but simply just an endeavor to remove the possibility of reoccurring incidents like individual conflicts leading to communal disparity between Tibetans and the local Indian people. At last but never the least I wish and pray that the long existed friendship between the resourceful teacher and the bright disciple will flow like the river Brahmaputra and loom like the Mount Everest despite anything that stands in its red carpeted path!
- Noble Land in Tibetan language, we call India the Noble Land.
- The previous Tibetan Government in TIbet which was run by His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
- An eminent Indian Socialist Leader.
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