New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi publicly greeted Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama on his 86th birthday Tuesday. He called the Dalai Lama to wish him and also posted a message on Twitter.
“Spoke on phone to His Holiness the Dalai Lama to convey greetings on his 86th birthday. We wish him a long and healthy life”, Modi wrote.
Spoke on phone to His Holiness the @DalaiLama to convey greetings on his 86th birthday. We wish him a long and healthy life.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) July 6, 2021
Apart from PM Modi, other ministers also wished him. They include Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri, Nitin Gadkari, Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu and Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, among others.
This is the first time in years when PM Modi has publicly greeted Dalai Lama on his birthday. The public greetings had stopped after 2015.
There was no public post from the PM and others on the Tibetan monk’s 85th birthday last year, and media reports had pointed out how Modi avoided wishing the spiritual leader, who has been the face of non-violent resistance to China, in the aftermath of the India-China clash in Galwan valley in eastern Ladakh.
In 2019, the PM and Home Minister Amit Shah had both wished the Dalai Lama over the phone.
Also read: US shifting its Tibet stance. When will India end its silence?
Why the gesture is significant
Dalai Lama has been living in India since he fled China in 1959.
The PM had invited the former Tibetan prime minister-in-exile, Lobsang Sangay, to his oath-taking ceremony in 2014. He had also invited the Buddhist leader to Rashtrapati Bhawan in 2017 and even allowed him to go to Tawang, the birthplace of one of his key predecessors, the Sixth Dalai Lama.
But in 2018, on the eve of the PM’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Wuhan, the Indian government had ordered the cancellation of all events commemorating the 60th anniversary of the Dalai Lama’s arrival in India.
The latest move by PM Modi assumes significance at a time when India is engaged in a tough border standoff with China at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) for over a year now. In June 2020, tensions between India and China reached an all-time high when the armies of countries had a violent clash that claimed the lives of 20 Indian soldiers.
The birthday wishes to Dalai Lama by PM Modi is not likely to be taken in a positive way by the Chinese government that just celebrated 100 years of the Chinese Communist Party, and India did not extend wishes to the party on this important milestone.
Kanti Bajpai, Director, Centre on Asia & Globalisation, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, NUS, who has recently come up with his new book ‘India versus China: Why They Are Not Friends’ said during an ‘Off The Cuff’ interaction with ThePrint Editor-in-Chief Shekhar Gupta: “Whenever you think India and China, think Tibet.”
The Tibetan refugees in India now believe the Tibet issue cannot be just used as diplomatic or political leverage against China, but needs resolution. In an interview to ThePrint, Penpa Tsering, the new President of Tibetan government-in-exile, had said: “Time has come to resolve Tibet.”
In May 2021, China had also issued an official white paper that any successor of the Dalai Lama has to be approved by Beijing. It also called the demand for Tibetan independence as a product of “imperialist aggression against China”.
Also read: Dalai Lama receives first shot of Covid-19 vaccine, thanks Indian government