After the Chinese crackdown against the Tibetan uprising in 1959, a large number of Tibetans including Tibetan spiritual guru Dalai Lama were forced to flee from Tibet and seek refuge in India.
On Wednesday, the President of the Tibetan Government-in-exile, Penpa Tsering, deplored that despite Tibetans living for six decades in India, very few Indians are aware of the Tibetan culture and history.
"We often live under the illusion, since we have lived in India for more than six decades, Indians know about us. Unfortunately, not many Indians know about Tibet, particularly Indians in the central part and south India, which has no border with Tibet,” Tsering said during a seminar in Kolkata.
The President-in-exile drew similarities between the Hindi and the Tibetan scripts and added that historically India has long-standing ties with Tibet which shares India’s ancient wisdom. "Ties between India and Tibet go back more than 2000 years," Tsering said.
On the demand from several quarters to confer the Bharat Ratna to the Dalai Lama, the President said that has been raised by responsible people within the Tibetan community in India. "I have not been requesting anybody to grant Bharat Ratna to His Holiness… His holiness has already been honoured with the Nobel Peace Prize. I have no intention of pursuing the issue,” he said.
Tibetan fora like the Core Group of Tibetan Cause India have demanded India to confer its highest civilian honour to the Dalai Lama
(With PTI inputs)
