Tibetans in India

Last Saturday I attended a talk by Karme Galec a first generation Tibetan settled in India. He is the Chairman, Tibetan Local Assembly, Tibet Camp, Gottangaon, Bhandara, Maharashtra state, India. Listening to a mongoloid feature for the first time in life was somewhat unsettling because I am told that we the Bose’s are also of mongoloid descent. Phew!

My apprehension however was unjustified. A simpleton farmer but at the same time very rugged. A people who do not comprehend the remarkable value of what they have created and achieved for their community. A people with ultimate reverence and gratefulness for their leader the Dalai Lama.

Karme Galec spoke about hardship being faced by his people inside Tibet where they are not allowed to practice their religion and worship images of the Dalai Lama. He insisted and reiterated several times that Tibet was willing to remain a part of China but with some autonomy. He even added that India would never feel secure until Tibet was made a buffer against prospective Chinese invasion. He described at length about their migration from Tibet in 1959 exactly 50 years ago. His people came into Maharashtra in the month of March and how due to the sudden exposure to new climate with oppressive heat many thousands died. Slowly over the years they learnt to acclimatize. Initially they were provided with rocky and forest land. Slowly they cleared the land and made it cultivable. Today in the Vidarbha region they are only community of farmers which is thriving and is being spoken of as a role model. There has been farmer’s suicide all around except the Tibetan settlement. The Tibetans also take loans for their agriculture but their repayments have been exemplary. They stand out as positive megastars when there is defeat and pessimism all around. They value education highly and every Tibetan child is educated. The intelligent and studious amongst them work for their Tibetan Parliament in exile at Dharmshala Himachal Pradesh. No child has so far shifted to US or Europe for his or her own personal development he claimed. There are 24 settlements of Tibetans considering India, Bhutan and Nepal together and most of them are in India. These settlements nominate candidate for the Tibetan parliament in exile. This Parliament takes care of their needs and follows a democratic style of functioning. I believe that is democracy which they experience and want to continue with along with religious freedom could be main obstacles in their negotiations with China.

The Tibetan Parliament has so far interacted 8 times with Chinese authorities and the last one was in 2008. They have provided the Chinese with all their requirements but no positive response is forthcoming. To my mind it is not possible for the Chinese to yield to all the requirements of the Tibetans. China is still run with a iron fist which does not tolerate diversity of opinion. Even expression of the differences is taboo. It is but natural that if Tibetans are allowed some sort of freedom then the other parts of China will also wake up and make their own demands. That would be a sure shot route to the disintegration of the country. Maybe the Tibetans will have to wait out the disintegration of China from inside pressure. It may take a few more decades.