If you thought His Holiness the Dalai Lama was 100% Tibetan, think again.
“I am a son of India,” he declared during questions after his appearance at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit in New Delhi. Not only has India been his transplanted home since he fled Tibet about 50 years ago, but “this body has survived by Indian daals, Indian rice, so therefore I describe myself as a son of India.”
He also considers himself a “messenger of India” (a line the audience ate up with applause) because he espouses ancient Indian thought, especially the gospel of “non-violent action related with a compassionate mind.”
He also noted the India was the only country, in his view, where all the major religions “live together with respect.”
He didn’t pander entirely to the audience, however. He said outdated traditions like caste and dowry had to be addressed and changed.The Dalai Lama has been based in Dharamshala, India, for about 50 years.
And he weighed in with his own policy prescription for Naxalism: In a country that now has big cities, he said there were still people suffering in India without education or electricity, making them vulnerable to manipulation by Maoists.
“Sending more policemen is not the answer,” he said. Providing services is.
He reserved a few choice words for his traditional antagonist, Communist China. When asked what he is doing about succession planning, he said: “For me this is not a serious question.” Then he added, laughing: “It looks as if the Chinese government is really seriously looking.”
He said he was not wedded to the idea of a successor despite the centuries-old tradition. Rather, he said, “things are always changing” and it should be up to Tibetans to decide whether they want the post to continue.
“As far as the Dalai Lama is concerned, there is more concern in the Chinese mind, the Communist mind, than me,” he said.