India - China: Relations And Developments-2

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<b>Yashwant defies BJP line, calls for ‘complete freedom’ for Tibet, Dalai Lama</b>
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Tuesday, April 08, 2008
NEW DELHI : In a reversal of the party’s stand, <b>senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha today demanded “complete freedom” for Tibet.</b>

Speaking at a seminar on Tibet organised by the Himalaya Parivar — comprising RSS sympathisers — Sinha said: “Tibet should be given complete freedom and even the Dalai Lama should demand nothing short of this. The Government of India should instantly lift the curbs on the Dalai Lama’s political activism...There should a peaceful struggle. But we should be ready to meet the challenge if there’s a conflict. I have a statement of His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, wherein he says that he has decided to find a solution within the framework of the People’s Republic of China. I would urge him to give up this path.”

Asked to explain his U-turn, Sinha said: “Why are you so interested about China’s interests when they have not stood by their commitment?...Even today they don’t show Sikkim on their maps. They have upped the ante on Arunachal Pradesh. The incursions in our territory have only increased. The ground realities have changed and we must thus formulate our policy in this new context.”

Sinha, however, added that he wasn’t speaking at a BJP function. So if he was playing to the gallery in a seminar attended by Tibetan activists and RSS sympathizers, senior BJP leaders were not impressed. Most of them said the observation was “avoidable”.

Said BJP president Rajnath Singh: “The Dalai Lama wants autonomy for his people. We, as the country’s principal Opposition party, respect and second this. We are also clear that Tibetans mustn’t be repressed as I made it clear when the Chinese envoy to India called on me recently.”

Party leaders Balbir Punj and Prakash Javdekar, who also spoke at the seminar, chose to distance themselves from Sinha’s views. When asked, Punj toed Rajnath’s line while Javdekar chose not to comment.

Sinha’s remarks may have been prompted by the presence of senior RSS leader Indiresh who demanded that India “go the whole hog in its demand for Tibet’s freedom”. He later said: “The Government of India and the Dalai Lama should rethink their priorities. We must fight for Tibet’s absolute freedom. Else, India is in for a prolonged spell of slavery.” A member of the RSS national executive, Indiresh campaigned vigorously for the trifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir when he was working in Jammu.

<b>The RSS, however, stops short of demanding freedom for Tibet. “We are with the Dalai Lama. When he wanted freedom for his people, we were with him. Now that he’s reconciled to autonomy for his people, he has our complete support in this as well,” a top RSS leader said.</b>

In a statement last month, <b>RSS sarsanghachalak K S Sudarshan had lambasted Chinese policy on Tibet slamming what it called its “barbarous and inhuman atrocities perpetrated on the peaceful Tibetan protesters.”</b> He had quoted Swami Vivekananda as saying, “The Chinese Dragon is asleep. Let it remain so. The day it will wake up, it will bring disaster over the whole world.” That “prophecy has become a reality today,” Sudarshan’s statement said.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->