NEW DELHI: "Tibet owed its religion to India and that it is owing to the proximity to India physically and spiritually that the Tibetan struggle has conformed to the tenets of ahimsa, dialogue and reconciliation," said Dr Lobsang Sangay, the democratically elected political leader of the Central Tibetan Administration based in Dharamsala.
Sangay was delivering the sixth Dr K R Narayanan Memorial Lecture on the theme 'Democracy in Exile: The Case of Tibet' at Jamia Millia Islamia on Monday. Sangay began by attributing the success of the Tibetan democratic experiment in exile to Indian values and traditions. Introducing Sangay and the topic, vice chancellor of Jamia, Najeeb Jung, highlighted the case of Tibet as being that of 'special and unique people' being forced out of their homeland.
In particular, he was highly appreciative of the Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama and spoke of him as an evolved soul. Delivering his lecture, Sangay said that Tibetan democracy, above all, owed itself to the vision of the Dalai Lama.
He explained that, "it was on September 2, 1960 that the first Tibetan parliament had come into existence and 1963 when women found representation in electoral politics. In the same year, all members of the Tibetan parliament came to be directly elected by the people." Sangay mentioned that in an unprecedented move, the Dalai Lama even introduced a provision in the constitution that allowed his impeachment by the parliament. "In 2000, further reforms made it possible to transfer all executive powers from the Dalai Lama to a political head. Taking the process forward to its logical conclusion, in 2011, the Dalai Lama fully devolved his responsibilities to the elected Tibetan leader (Sikyong)," added Sangay.
While efforts at democratisation are apace, as also attempts to seek a negotiated solution to the Tibet issue with the Chinese government, he lamented about the spate of self-immolations that had gripped Tibet since 2009. Around 89 people had immolated themselves so far. He called the situation in Tibet "grim and tragic." Sangay expressed his anguish that China blames the Tibetan leaders in exile for these acts of protest. He suggested that a more appropriate approach would have been to ask "what is forcing the people to take such an extreme step in the first place." Socio-economic discrimination, political and cultural repression, and lack of freedom of speech and expression were held responsible for the persistence of dissent in Tibet.
Sangay further spoke at length about the importance of Tibet's water and ecology, and how they are vital not just to India but to the environmental sustainability of the world. Continued destruction of the natural resources, mindless expansion in the name of development and extensive militarization, he said, "will only add to global climate worries." He then put forth a question at the very core of the development discourse: development for whom? Sangay also shared his experience at campaigning for the current position which he recalls as being tumultuous. He calls himself a 'default' candidate and shared how his well wishers had even asked him to prepare an honourable exit strategy because they believed that there was no way he would win the elections. Nevertheless, he did contest and won in an unprecedented democratic election in 2011.
Sangay received his biggest round of applause from the audience when he spoke about how he gave up his rather lucrative career at Harvard to work for the Tibet cause even if it meant drawing a meagre salary and travelling second class. Concluding his speech, the Tibetan leader in exile said that he was rather optimistic and that Tibet's day of reckoning is not far. "The desire to be free, to breath the air of freedom and free will will live on."
