Synopsis
The All-Party Indian Parliamentary Forum for Tibet recently proposed Bharat Ratna for the Dalai Lama in reverberation of public opinion for the same.
By Sujeet Kumar & Seema Sindhu, The Economic Times.
Close to a lakh Tibetans in exile commemorated the 62nd founding anniversary of the Tibetan Parliament on Friday , following the arrival of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
I think it’s the most apt occasion to reiterate the demand to honour the Dalai Lama, one of India’s most revered guests, with the nation’s highest civilian award, the Bharat Ratna.
The All-Party Indian Parliamentary Forum for Tibet recently proposed Bharat Ratna for the Dalai Lama in reverberation of public opinion for the same. The 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989 for his non-violent struggle for the liberation of Tibet, has been living in exile in India since March 1959. Conferring the Bharat Ratna on His Holiness would be a fitting tribute to Mahatma Gandhi who, unfortunately, didn’t get the Nobel for political reasons.
The Mahatma, perhaps the greatest apostle of peace and non-violence of the 20th century, was nominated five times for the Nobel Peace Prize, but he never received it despite universal acceptance of his ideals of truth and non-violence. Similarly, popular opinion of conferring the Bharat Ratna on His Holiness is opposed by a section of self-styled foreign policy pundits on account of fear of further straining India-China relationship.
This is a very narrow outlook. The government must not consider this narrow outlook as His Holiness’ contribution to humanity is beyond the prism of his contribution to the cause of Tibet. Like the Mahatma, the Dalai Lama is deeply revered the world over as one of the greatest messengers of peace, love, compassion and non-violence-the age-old civilisational values of our nation. In that sense he has immensely contributed to India’s soft power.
Read the full report here.