Honour Dalai Lama on his 85th birth anniversary

When China occupied Tibet and massacred thousands of innocent Tibetans in the early 1950s, His Holiness the Dalai Lama had to flee Tibet and he came to India as a refugee.

Now, the Dalai Lama has completed 85 years of life, of which around 60 years have been spent in India.

He has been preaching love, harmony and peace for several decades and he was honoured with Nobel Prize for his efforts.

Certainly, India is benefitting by his presence, as he symbolizes the qualities of compassion and hatred for none. Many Indians have been inspired by his thoughts and speeches and consider him as an embodiment of culture. 

The Dalai Lama now remains as the tallest Buddhist leader in the world.

What is particularly noteworthy is that despite the great harm that China has done to Tibet and the abuses that China has been hurling at the Dalai Lama for several decades, he has not spoken severely against China at any time. Remarkably, the Dalai Lama does not consider even China as his enemy, despite it’s unethical and aggressive behaviour and this is a unique quality that a person should possess to be hailed as a world leader par excellence.

While India has given refugee status to the Dalai Lama and Tibetans and the Dalai Lama has strictly remained without indulging in political activities as directed by Government of India, it is not known that Government of India has acknowledged this aspect of the Dalai Lama’s during his stay in India for several decades now.

It is high time that India should suitably honour His Holiness the Dalai Lama on his 85th birth anniversary, as he has enriched India with his noble thoughts and advocacies for harmony, by touring all over India and delivering lectures advocating peace and love, just as several other great Indian philosophers have done in the past. 

The Dalai Lama has clearly said on several occasions in recent times that he is no more interested in political activities and he is dedicated to the cause of universal brotherhood. One can say with confidence that Dalai Lama is now the conscience keeper of the world, as he is one of the very few leaders in the world who has been stressing on the need for amity and goodwill between everyone, by remaining as a role model for world civilization.

When several countries have honoured the Dalai Lama for his contribution to the promotion of world harmony and Nobel prize has been awarded to him, it is conspicuous that India has not suitably honoured him so far, even though he spent most of his lifetime in India.

India did a great mistake in the early 1950s when India approved the occupation of Tibet by China and did not object in any meaningful way to the massacre of thousands of innocent protestors in Tibet by the Chinese army. With the Dalai Lama now in the ripe age of 85 years, India should clear it’s conscience for its unethical approval of China’s occupation of Tibet earlier, by conferring The Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding to the Dalai Lama.

This is most appropriate to do so since it was Jawaharlal Nehru, the then Prime Minister of India, who kept silent for whatever reasons when China occupied Tibet and the Dalai Lama had to flee to India.

Jawaharlal Nehru was a peace-loving man and he would certainly be happy, wherever he is now, that the mistake done by him would be corrected now by conferring the award that was named after Jawaharlal Nehru to the Dalai Lama, the apostle of peace.

(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL.)