Dalai Lama spoke to WION on the sidelines of the “Thank You India” programme organised in McLeodganj's Tsuglagkhang temple in Dharamshala.
On a day that marked the beginning of the 60th year of him first setting foot on Indian soil, spiritual leader Dalai Lama said that the Tibetans were not seeking separation from the People’s Republic of China but were only seeking “certain rights” mentioned in the Chinese constitution, including Tibetan autonomy “to preserve their own culture."
Dalai Lama spoke to World Is One News (WION) on the sidelines of the “Thank You India” programme organised in McLeodganj's Tsuglagkhang temple in Dharamshala.
“I don’t know,” is what the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet said when asked as to by when he thought that the exiled Tibetans would be able to return to their homeland. “I think the Tibetan issue is of justice. Also, now at a practical level we are not seeking separation (from China). Our elected political leadership is also committed to that we are not seeking separation,” the Dalai Lama added.
The spiritual leader, an ambassador of peace the world over and revered by millions, said that Tibetans should have the rights they require to preserve their identity and culture. “While remaining within the People's Republic of China, we should have certain rights mentioned in the Chinese Constitution, including Tibetan autonomy. Chinese constitution itself recognises these rights. So these entire Tibetan areas should have same rights to preserve their own culture including language and rich Buddhist tradition,” he told WION.
When asked as to what he thought about India’s equation with China and where did the Tibetans figure in that equation, the Dalai Lama said, “Logically, India and China are most populated nations. Any sensible person would want Hindi-Chini Bhai Bhai at practical level to live together. Both India and China cannot destroy each other. So you have to live side by side, the two nations need to think reasonably.”
He added that there “are some sort of problems…border problems” and those can only be solved “through talks and not by weapons”. “Through weapons you can kill a few hundred people…that won’t solve the problem,” the Tibetan leader said.
Central Tibetan Administration’s President Dr Lobsang Sangay told WION that the Tibetan struggle was one of the best example of “Make In India” and that the success of the Tibetan struggle will be India’s success story.
Tibetans are celebrating the year 2018 as “Thank You India” year to express their gratitude towards India for not just giving shelter to exiled Tibetans on its soil but for also having stood by the Tibetan “cause."
These celebrations got mired in controversy after the Indian government issued an advisory to its senior bureaucrats asking them to maintain a distance from these programmes. The “Thank You India” event that was today held in Dharamshala was originally slated to take place in New Delhi and had to be moved out at the insistence of the Indian government.
The Indian government, meanwhile, tried to salvage the situation by dispatching Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma and senior BJP leader Ram Madhav to attend today’s event.
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 "Dalai Lama with Union Minister Dr. Mahesh Sharma at 'Thank You India' event at McLeod Ganj, Dharamshala")
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