(by Pastor Khong Jean Ai)

Who would have thought that after 60 years of living in exile, that 2018 would be one of the Tibetan leadership’s most difficult years? The Tibetan leadership, formally known as the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA), are based in Dharamsala in North India where, for the last six decades they have administered the roughly 150,000 exiled Tibetans. They have funded this by capitalising on the world’s sympathy for them – for years Tibetans held the moral high ground as their country was taken over by Mao Zedong’s People’s Liberation Army and their sovereignty destroyed. Thanks to clever marketing, the reputation of His Holiness the Dalai Lama as a man of peace, as well as his insistence they only use non-violent methods of protest, the Tibetans became the world’s most famous refugees.

They stayed that way for 60 years, collecting millions of dollars in funding and aid. The CTA watched celebrities rushing to endorse their so-called Tibetan cause. The devout from all over the world made their way to the CTA’s “capital”, Dharamsala, hoping some of the Dalai Lama’s magic and wisdom would rub off on them. And governments keen to challenge the perceived enemy, China, financially supported the CTA’s activities, although the leadership’s personal coffers swelled while the living conditions of their people barely improved. It was the perfect set-up for the CTA and the perfect reason to keep their people as refugees to generate ‘sympathy cash’.

So, a combination of sympathy and the Dalai Lama’s fame helped the Tibetans to be accepted but now, it seems that the honeymoon period is over. Not only are people waking up to the realisation that the CTA financially exploited them for six decades, but they are also realising that the concept of “friend or foe” is an ever-changing social construct. The same people who criticise China now, saying she uses her economic and military might to dominate others, did the same themselves in the last century. For it was not so long ago, basically still within living memory, that we witnessed the colonisation and annexation of countries by the same Western powers who today criticise China. Countries like India, Kenya, South Africa, French Polynesia, Congo, Singapore, Malaysia and territories like Hong Kong lost then regained their independence from European countries such as Portugal, England, France and the Netherlands.

New World Order

Having realised that the nations criticising China have themselves previously engaged in the same expansionist policies, the world as a result is now opening up to China. The stigma of being associated with China is lessening, therefore making it easier for nations to pursue bilateral relations with this Asian superpower.

One of the countries pursuing positive relations with China is none other than India and to do so, India is rescinding her support for the Tibetans. Of all the nations to end their association with the Tibetans, the most painful one for the CTA must be India.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi

It is an inarguable fact that no one has been kinder to the Tibetans than India. It started when the Dalai Lama first arrived in India, when he was warmly welcomed by the then-Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru. Nehru famously went on to grant 27 tracts of land to the Tibetans, along with the autonomy to do whatever they wished on them. He also granted this land without any preconditions or expectations that rental would be paid.

Nehru did not even make it mandatory for Tibetans to pay taxes and that is why whatever donations they receive has been the Tibetans’ to keep. Over the past 60 years, these donations have easily amounted to the hundreds of millions. All of this kindness was based not only on Nehru’s respect for the Dalai Lama, but also his sympathy for the Tibetans’ plight and what he (and the world in general) perceived to be the morally correct thing to do. The truth is, their sympathy may have been appropriate six decades ago, but today the balance of the world has changed and the situation needs to be re-evaluated.

Unrequited Generosity

India’s kindness stemming from Nehru’s time has not always been recognised or even returned by the Tibetans. This is a fact that the Indians are waking up to, triggered by many recent incidents which have shown them just how ungrateful the Tibetan leadership is, and how this ingratitude has trickled down to their community.

One example of a trigger is the Doklam border standoff between China and India. Doklam lies north of India, in an area disputed by China and Bhutan. During the Doklam incident, Bhutan accused China of making incursions into their territory and India, claiming to act on Bhutan’s behalf, blocked Chinese developments in the region. As a result, tensions ran high between China and India and the situation nearly culminated in war.

The CTA, instead of helping, added fuel to the fire, in the form of Tibetan President Lobsang Sangay taking a trip to North India where he visited Pangong Lake. From the shores of the lake, one can see Tibet and despite knowing India and China were locked in a standoff, Lobsang Sangay saw it fit to hoist the Tibetan flag which symbolises Tibet’s independence. His actions were viewed by China as being deliberately provocative – why else would the Tibetan President go to North India during a tense time and, within view of Tibet, hoist a symbol that disputes China’s claim over the region?

China subsequently blamed Lobsang Sangay’s actions on India’s failure to “control” him, thus adding to the deteriorating relationship between India and China. Indian citizens were left wondering, was it really necessary for Lobsang Sangay to visit at that time, and to raise the Tibetan flag at that time when the situation was already tense enough?

Indians Ask Questions

This is not the first time exiled Tibetans have intentionally irked China, and their behaviour has only created more friction for India and China’s relationship. For 60 years India has been silent about this, oftentimes taking Tibet’s side but the Indians are now asking, to what benefit? What has India gained from siding with the Tibetans? Aside from a placated conscience, India did not gain economically, politically, socially or infrastructurally by helping their northern neighbours.

Frustrated Indians are starting to notice this and have begun speaking up against their government’s long-standing support for the Tibetans, because they just do not see how it benefits Indian citizens.

Their frustration has not fallen on deaf ears, and the Indian leadership are moving to reduce support for the Tibetans. The most recent example involves Mr Vijay Gokhale, the current Indian Foreign Secretary. Mr Gokhale issued a directive advising all Indian officials to stay away from events held as part of the CTA’s “Thank You India” campaign — a campaign commemorating the Tibetans’ 60 years of exile, essentially a public relations exercise attempting to smooth relations between Delhi and the CTA. Unfortunately for the Tibetans, the Indian government also instructed the CTA to move their “Thank You India” events from Delhi to Dharamsala. With no choice but to comply, the CTA are now being forced to hold a much smaller event at a more low-key venue with less publicity.

Indian Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale discussed bilateral ties with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Beijing

These directives and instructions from the Indian government show that the Indian leadership are not the least bit interested in maintaining relations with the CTA. Mr Gokhale further reinforced this by travelling to Beijing the day after his directive was circulated, in order to meet with his Chinese counterparts. The message from the Indian leadership is clear – they are serious about mending India’s relationship with China. Part and parcel of this is the Indian government showing they are no longer favouring their relationship with the exiled Tibetan leadership, whom China considers to be “dangerous separatists” working to destabilise peace in China’s Tibet Autonomous Region.

Salt in the Wound

A photo taken during happier times. Pictured is the Dalai Lama with Himachal Pradesh’s food and civil supplies minister Kishan Kapoor. Lately, the relationship between the CTA and Mr Kapoor has been more acrimonious. Mr Kapoor skipped an official CTA function, despite being invited as its Chief Guest after Indian government officials were advised to stay away by the Ministry of External Affairs. The Tibetan leadership has historically enjoyed a good relationship with the government of Himachal Pradesh, a state in North India, but this appears to be changing as the Indian central government are now prioritising bilateral relations with China over support for the Tibetan exile community.

These directives from the Indian government were just the start of many blows to the CTA. In mid-March 2018, at a CTA event held in Dharamsala, their Chief Guest failed to show up after having confirmed his attendance. Calls to him for an explanation went unanswered. The absent Chief Guest was Mr Kishan Kapoor, the food and civil supplies minister for the North Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. Dharamsala is located in Himachal Pradesh and the CTA has always had a good relationship with their state government, so the minister’s unexplained and unannounced absence came as a shock.

So, it is not only the Indian national government but also the CTA’s good friends in the state government who are refusing to support their events. This is definitely a huge wake-up call for the exiled Tibetan leaders – Tibet is no longer India’s priority. Instead, the Indian government are prioritising India’s future, India’s people and India’s economy. And as the tweets below from the Indian public show, this time not even His Holiness the Dalai Lama can help the CTA garner support because the reality is, even amongst ordinary Indians, His Holiness is losing his influence in India as well as around the world. This global decline in His Holiness’ popularity can be seen in the frequency at which his visas are being rejected and in the ever-increasing number of world leaders refusing to meet with him. US President Donald Trump, for example, has not called on the Dalai Lama since taking office in January 2017. It is a clear departure from past American Presidents who seized every opportunity to host the Dalai Lama to bolster their image. Yet, with Trump in office, there is no sign that any overtures will be made towards the Tibetan administration any time in the near future.

So could it be that His Holiness’ cancellation of most of his travel plans is due to a recognition of his waning popularity both in India and abroad? Certainly, criticism of His Holiness and the Tibetan leadership is on the increase, and now it seems like the news of Mr Gokhale’s directive has opened the floodgates for criticism from Indians to be directed against the Tibetan leadership. Now for the first time in 60 years, the Tibetans can see how unhappy they have made the Indians who are tired of being used. Indian citizens are asking how it benefits India to help the Tibetans and starting to question the Indian government’s support for the exile community. Below are some of the comments private Indian citizens have made when expressing their dissatisfaction:

1. What have the Tibetans ever done for India?

That is the question on many Indians’ minds, as they wonder why Tibetans still call themselves refugees. A drive through any Tibetan settlement quickly makes it obvious that Tibetans are not suffering or living a hard life like genuine refugees. One of the tweeters below says that the reality is, most Tibetans live very well and they are much better off than most Indians who live below the poverty line.

Tibetan wealth can be easily observed in any of the settlements, where you will see big golden monasteries with huge altars and precious jewels, brand new school buildings, modern homes with swimming pools and much more. Even poor Tibetans have more than poor Indians and when the local Indians see this, it only breeds resentment. Whether their reaction is good or bad, appropriate or not, is not the point; it is human nature for anyone to think, “What kind of refugee has a swimming pool in their home?”

2. No other refugee community has received as much financial support as the Tibetans.

Some people do not even live for 60 years, and that is how long the CTA has been receiving free funds from the public. The real question is, where did all the funds go? These funds were intended for furthering the CTA’s political goals but with no progress in the last 60 years, what happened to all of the money?

No one really knows the answer but what people do know is what they see – so-called Tibetan refugees driving new cars, carrying new phones and wearing expensive sneakers. And when disasters occur like the drought that affected Tibetan farmers, instead of using these funds to fix their problems, the CTA set up fundraisers to beg for more. That is precisely why newspapers like The Guardian have investigated various Tibetan organisations which have been raising funds for the Tibetan cause.

3. From a domestic policy perspective, the CTA and the Tibetans have no concern, care or interest for India’s internal issues.

This is why the Tibetans continue to administer themselves, instead of submitting to the larger rule of law that governs the rest of India. And certainly none of the financial aid the Tibetans receive has ever gone towards the local Indian community.

In general, the CTA are disinterested in helping the Indians living around the Tibetan settlements. For example, Tibetans and the CTA never initiate welfare projects to help poor Indians, like build schools, install pumps to provide clean water, set up organisations to deal with issues like violence against women, establish clinics to provide medicine, or launch anti-tuberculosis campaigns. To the Indians, it seems Tibetans are more interested in owning gold, wearing brocade clothes, building two to three-storey houses filled with the latest electronics, going on holidays to Thailand, and opening their own Tibetan businesses and shops to earn even more money.

4. From a foreign policy perspective, the Tibetan leadership should stop interfering in any country’s relations with China.

Any time any nation makes overtures towards the Chinese, the CTA attempts to sabotage it by talking about how the world is being ‘eaten’ up by China. With such strong leaders, why does the CTA think countries like Russia, India and Australia can be ‘eaten’ up? Their accusations are ridiculous and, quite frankly, insulting to those countries’ leaderships. So Indians are upset that the CTA is always engaged in political games because when things go wrong, it is the Indians who suffer the consequences.

But the real question is, why does everything that involves India and China have to involve the Tibetans? No country in the world is obligated to help the Tibetans and simply put, it does not make a blind bit of difference to anyone if they help the exiled Tibetans or not. On paper, it may sound good from a moral, ethical and spiritual perspective. But in reality, it will never happen and no nation is willing to send in their men to die for Tibet. It is sheer arrogance for the CTA to assume anyone has an obligation to help the Tibetans at the cost of their own countries’ welfare, and it just goes to tell you that the CTA has an overinflated view of their importance and place in the world.

5. The Tibetans have no right to dictate what India can or cannot do, and who India can or cannot be friends with.

Tibetans are, by choice, not Indian citizens so why are they protesting if India wants to befriend China? India should be allowed to create her own foreign policy without Tibetans creating more issues for them, such as during the aforementioned Doklam standoff in North India.

Similarly, the Dalai Lama recently created a huge uproar when he said that “Buddha was Indian”. The Nepali people are very passionate about Buddha being born in Lumbini, a city in Nepal and the Dalai Lama’s statement was taken as a denial of this fact. India already has a contentious relationship with Nepal and the Dalai Lama’s comments, which many Nepalis felt were supported by the Indians, only created more friction in this already-strained relationship.

6. Why should the Indian government continue to support a Tibetan leadership that consistently contradicts India’s policies and statements?

Indians are wondering what the Indian government gets out of supporting an administration that undermines them all the time, and that has clearly stated they are not interested in being Indian citizens, helping Indian society or engaging with the local Indian community.

7. Indians also wonder why Tibetans are still in exile after all this time, when it is clear that they can return to Tibet any time they like.

One person on Twitter pointed out that,

“Tibetans HAVE a home and it is called Tibet, and they should go back. And even the Dalai Lama has stopped calling for independence so why are Tibetans not following His Holiness’ wishes?”

His Holiness the Dalai Lama has repeatedly said that he does not want Tibet to be independent. It can stay under China with autonomy and all he wants is to go back. He even sent his top man, ex-Prime Minister Samdhong Rinpoche, on a secret mission to try and make this visit possible. So what confuses these tweeters is why the CTA keeps provoking China. First, it does not help them to gain autonomy by antagonising China and second, upsetting China only creates obstacles for the Dalai Lama’s wish to come true. The logical Indians cannot make sense of what it accomplishes for the CTA to keep provoking China.

8. India has every right to focus on its economy and put its future first.

Joining forces with China will lead to this, thanks to lucrative trade deals that can be signed. Why should Indians forego their future in support of Tibetans who only make problems in return? Why should India be made to feel guilty for wanting progress for their nation? They have 1.2 billion citizens to take care of and since Tibetans do not want to be Indian citizens (even though the opportunity has been given to them), then the Indian government has no obligation to look after these foreigners.

9. Since Tibetans look down on Indians, they should return to Tibet.

It is not as though Tibetans have a tough time gaining Indian citizenship. Any time Tibetans want to become citizens, the Indian government has made it very easy for them. However, Tibetans view Indian citizenship as undesirable and a last resort. They really prefer to take up Western citizenship, and they will pay thousands of dollars to travel to the West to start the citizenship process there.

It is only when Tibetans think they have no other choice, that they apply to become Indian citizens and even then, they will complain loudly about India’s requirements. However they will never complain about the requirements from a Western country because Western citizenship is valued, whereas Indian citizenship is not.

Tibetans claim they should not apply for Indian citizenship because it will hasten the demise of their culture. That is why Tibetan children do not go to Indian schools, Tibetan doctors do not work in Indian hospitals, and Tibetans do not want to serve in the Indian government. How come Tibetans are so worried about preserving their culture in India and use this excuse not to become Indian citizens, but they are not worried about their culture disappearing if they get to become American, Canadian, Swiss or British?

Tibetans also claim that assimilating into India dilutes the so-called Tibetan cause; yet they do not make the same claims when it comes to taking up Western citizenship. This is quite an insulting, racist attitude towards the Indians. How can Tibetans be in India for 60 years without becoming citizens? India is not obligated to make citizenship available to the Tibetans yet they do so generously. It really tells you how generous and forgiving India has been but the Tibetans still do not appreciate this generosity and complain because in reality, they are racist and look down on India as a second-rate option.

10. Tibetans should care about India’s welfare and stop trying to sabotage India’s efforts to befriend China.

Life has been good to the Tibetans in exile for 60 years, and so their leadership should not treat India’s overtures to the Chinese as a personal insult because it is nothing personal. Like the Indians say, they still respect and revere the Dalai Lama as a religious figure. But in making friends with China, it is about the social welfare of over 1 billion people.

So if Tibetans really care for India, they should actually do everything possible to support India in befriending China. Why? The Tibetans say that they have no resources to help the Indians. However, the Chinese definitely do. So if the Tibetans really care for India, they will help India to achieve better relations with China, and indirectly repay India’s 60 years of generosity by making Chinese resources available to them. They would also stop carrying the Tibetan flag, and start carrying Indian ones since for most Tibetans in exile, especially those of the second and third generation, it has been India’s kindness that has fed and sustained them for the last 60 years. How come the Tibetans never carry the Indian flag after 60 years? They show no loyalty to the Indian flag, and a total lack of respect for India. But when Tibetans go to other countries, they hold those countries’ flag with pride, and show respect and loyalty to those host nations.

India wants to be friends with China and that is something beneficial for the region. It is even changing its policies regarding the Tibetans to make sure it happens. Recently, a senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and Indian Member of Parliament, Shanta Kumar attended Tibetan events to thank India for their kindness over the last 60 years. In regards to the Dalai Lama he said, “China should pave way for his return.” India’s changing stance towards the Tibetans is clear. They would like to see Tibetans return to the Tibetan Autonomous Region of China. (Click here to read the full article. Source: http://indianexpress.com/article/india/dalai-lama-tibet-thank-you-india-event-live-updates-cta-china-bjp-5118008).

11. Tibetans have betrayed India’s trust and kindness.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama has repeatedly said that if push comes to shove, he will not take India’s side, and he will side with China. Tibetans have not spoken up to disagree with His Holiness; their silence is their agreement and approval of his remarks. It clearly shows that Tibetans lack loyalty for India and, as a result, more and more Indians are wondering why they supported the Tibetans for so many years. What was the point, and what benefits did they receive in return?

What the Indians are noticing is a very simple equation – the CTA does not want Tibetans to be Indian citizens, the Tibetan leadership does not want to contribute back to Indian society, the Tibetan leadership is not interested in Indian domestic affairs and the Tibetan leadership only cares about playing politics to try and accomplish some of their political goals.

If India is harmed in the process, the CTA will treat it as collateral damage and they are not concerned. To the Tibetan leadership, India is just a convenient stepping stone, a place they stayed in for the last 60 years and where they will remain and continue to enrich themselves until they can either move to the West, or return to Tibet.

So considering the Tibetan leadership’s attitude towards India, the reactions below are not very surprising. These are just a few points amongst the many that were brought up by Indians who are now expressing their real thoughts about Tibetans living on their land for six decades. From private individuals to government officials, everyone is now speaking up against the CTA and their ungrateful, demanding ways.

The CTA has taken so much from India and yet they have given nothing back, and so the voices of Indian discontent against Tibetans will only grow stronger because the CTA are not doing anything to change the Tibetan attitude towards India. The CTA, in fact, are still trying to make Tibet a sore point in the relationship between China and India, when in actuality the Tibet issue is a minor one in the wider politics between the two nations. Yet the CTA are willing to damage Sino-Indian relations for the sake of Tibet, and it is something the Indians will not tolerate any more.

Below are just some of the remarks from Indians speaking up. We will be updating this article from time to time with more comments so please keep checking back. This is the real India that the CTA does not want the world to see, which is that all is not rosy between the Indians and Tibetans and as time passes, the Tibetans are slowly losing their welcome. It is a portent of even more difficult times ahead, for if this is how things are while the Dalai Lama is still alive, it will never improve when he is no longer around. Indian respect for the Dalai Lama will no longer be enough to stave off the inevitable ending of Indians rejecting the Tibetans. And the truth is a bitter pill to swallow – the CTA’s fate, now dependent on India and China, two Asian giants with their own agendas and interests, is no longer within their hands.

Tibetans on social media have not been grateful to India for all that the country has provided for them over the last 60 years when they think no one is watching. But as soon as they think someone is watching them, donors perhaps, they suddenly become nice. But they are only nice when they think others are watching them. This is how you know they are not sincere.
Click on image to enlarge.

Comments from Indians about Tibetans

For more interesting information:

• Nepal and China: Two Old Civilisations Embrace
• Pilgrimage Through India & Nepal
• “The Tribune” Publishes Dalai Lama Planning to visit China! | “The Tribune”发表达赖喇嘛计划访问中国的新闻！
• Reuters publishes my thoughts on Tibetan self-immolation
• Reuters covers international Dorje Shugden conference 2018
• Milestone International Dorje Shugden Conference 2018 | 2018全球雄登代表大会开创历史新篇章 | ས་ཚིགས་འཛམ་གླིང་རྒྱལ་ཡོངས་རྡོ་རྗེ་ཤུགས་ལྡན་ལྷན་ཚོགས ༢༠༡༨།
• Huffington Post: Shugden Acolytes Decry Ostracism Within Buddhist Ranks
• Huffington Post: When Machiavelli Dons Tibetan Robes
• Dorje Shugden – The Protector of Our Time
• Dorje Shugden: Our Personal Stories
• Dear Dalai Lama, please read this
• Dear Dalai Lama, With Folded Hands
• Why so rude?
• 700 Meet A Buddha (七百人幸睹佛现)
• Great Masters Speak about Tsem Rinpoche
• Dorje Shugden Retreat: A powerful practice to fulfill wishes
• Dorje Shugden People Do Not Go to the Three Lower Realms
• Why Accepting Dorje Shugden Is Good for Tibetan Democracy
• Why can’t the Dalai Lama ‘bind’ Dorje Shugden?
• H.E. Tsem Rinpoche’s first live streaming!
• The Dorje Shugden category on my blog
• Manjushri Nagarakshasa comes to KFR!
• They were not wrong
• Can Tibetan Lamas Make Mistakes?
• My plea to His Holiness the Dalai Lama
• My plea to His Holiness (Tibetan) | ངའི་༧གོང་ས་མཆོག་ལ་སྙན་ཞུ་ཞུ་རྒྱུར།
• The Fourteenth Dalai Lama & Dorje Shugden | ༧གོང་ས་ཆེན་པོ་སྐུ་འཕྲེང་བཅུ་བཞི་པ་མཆོག་དང་རྡོ་རྗེ་ཤུགས་ལྡན། | 十四世达赖尊者与多杰雄登
• The Fifth Dalai Lama & Dorje Shugden | ༧གོང་ས་ལྔ་པ་ཆེན་པོ་དང་རྡོ་རྗེ་ཤུགས་ལྡན། | 第五世达赖尊者与多杰雄登
• Dorje Shugden: My side of the story
• Should there be a separate autonomous Dorje Shugden state? Part 1
• Should there be a separate autonomous Dorje Shugden state? Part 2
• To Sum It Up
• The Buddhist Divide – An Unholy Campaign against Religious Freedom
• Tibetan Leadership’s New Anti-Shugden Video
• Updated: Dorje Shugden Teaching Videos
• The Dalai Lama Speaks Clearly About the Dorje Shugden Ban
• Nechung – The Retiring Devil of Tibet
• Will the Dalai Lama agree with this?

Please support us so that we can continue to bring you more Dharma:

If you are in the United States, please note that your offerings and contributions are tax deductible. ~ the tsemrinpoche.com blog team