Dalai Lama, the Tibetan Spiritual leader, is not known for using harsh words. He is also known for his pacifism though China has been branding him as a dangerous separatist.
So much so his latest comment on Chinese hardliners comes as a surprise.
The Chinese hardliners have parts of their brains missing, the Tibetan spiritual leader in an interview to US comedian John Oliver at his base in Dharamsala.
The interview was aired this week in the United States. It is possible the soft spoken Nobel laureate was provoked by the Dragon’s stand on finding his successor, more so since he might be the last Dalai Lama.
“Very possible,” he said. “If I become the last Dalai Lama, I feel very happy,” he was heard saying in the interview.
Beijing, however, wants the Tibetan Buddhist tradition must continue and insists on its right to approve the Dalai Lama’s successor, as a legacy inherited from China’s emperors.
The Dalai Lama was asked if he was worried China might appoint its own Dalai Lama
“It would be foolish”, replied the Tibetan spiritual leader.
He added: “Our brain usually, you see, has the ability to create common sense (but) The Chinese hardliners, in their brain, that part of the brain, is missing”.
These observations have coincided with Beijing’s displeasure over his planned visit to Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh. Also with the question ‘if it the Tibetan leader is of little value then why China is getting so worked up over the visit to Tawang’.
As media reports from Beijing point out China is publicly blaming the Indian government of encouraging the Dalai Lama to visit Arunachal Pradesh for what it dubs as political advantage from such a visit.
“Leveraging the Dalai Lama issue to undermine Beijing’s core interests’ risks dragging the two countries into a state of hostility”, says a commentary in the party organ, Global Times. It went on observe: Indians “overestimate the political value of the Dalai Lama and his group while miscalculating China’s determination to safeguard its core interests”.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said that Dalai Lama’s visit would complicate the India-China boundary dispute and effect relationship between the two countries.
From what Indian government functionaries have said on record, New Delhi is in no mood to budge from its stand that the Dalai Lama is free to visit any part of India.