Dalai Lama begins N-E visit, recalls his escape to India
GUWAHATI: Amid fresh warnings from Beijing, spiritual leader Dalai Lama began his 12-day tour of the north-east here on Saturday by recalling his escape from Tibet to India 58 years ago.
On his first trip to the region after eight years, Dalai Lama said he gets emotional when he revisits Assam and Tawang (Arunachal Pradesh) as he enjoyed “freedom for the first time (here) and started a new chapter in life”.
On his arrival at the Lokapriya Gopinath Bordoloi airport here, the spiritual leader did not attach much importance to Beijing’s threats, saying, “All these things are normal”.
Dalai Lama recollected how he and his followers entered India via Arunachal Pradesh back in 1959.
The 81-year-old said he had tried to control the situation in Lhasa after a huge demonstration took place on March 10, 1959, but with increasing Chinese military involvement, “there was no other option but escape”.
He left Lhasa on March 17, 1959, “with great risk to my own life”, but was still hopeful of resolving the issue after talks with Chinese officials on reaching South Tibet — that hope was lost when China started bombarding Lhasa.
It took 15 days on foot for Dalai Lama and his entourage of 20 people to dodge the Chinese forces and enter India on March 31 and take shelter at the Buddhist monastery in Tawang.
“I came to India in 1959 as a refugee. I have spent over 58 years as a guest of the Indian government. In a way, I am their longest (staying) guest,” he joked as hundreds present in the audience applauded.
The spiritual leader will deliver an address at Gauhati University on Sunday and another one in Dibrugarh University the next day before heading to Tawang . He will end his trip in Arunachal Pradesh’s capital Itanagar on April 12.