Dalai’s remark regrettable

His Holiness the Dalai Lama probably by now recognises that he has messed up his copybook after his recent comments at a meeting in Goa, where he suggested that the partition of India could have been avoided if Nehru had not been “self- centred” and paid heed to Gandhi’s suggestion that Jinnah be made the Prime Minister.

Two days later, the Tibetan spiritual leader expressed some kind of remorse, saying he might have created a “controversy”. This is how many lower order Indian politicians behave.

It is really unclear what he is apologetic about, for publicising an opinion that flies in the face of the historical record, or for creating a controversy. The Tibetan leader might as well accept that his false assertion is like rumours on WhatsApp that cause things to get out of control.

In any case, when the Nehru government offered the young Dalai Lama asylum in 1959 on account of Chinese invasion of his homeland, it was on condition that he would not engage in politics. Even in later years, the monk made no move to return to Tibet, indicating that he accepted the terms on which he had gained entry.

The Tibetan leader’s Goa remark is a violation of that condition. It is an uncalled for intervention in Indian politics on the same side as the present government which seeks to revile Nehru.

As for history, Gandhi wrote to the last Viceroy, Lord Mountbatten, a “Dear friend” letter on April 11, 1947 in which he acknowledged that “except Badshah Khan”, no Congress leader or Working Committee member he had consulted supported his idea of Jinnah leading the interim government. V. P. Menon’s monumental Transfer of Power shows that the Muslim League leader himself rejected the idea.