Tibetans and Indians of Tibetan origin have been protesting the occupation and repression of their land and culture in the past couple of weeks. Not that they did not protest for the past 50 years; just that no one really bothered to listen to them earlier, and with the summer Olympics approaching, obviously they are trying to use the media to get the world to focus attention to their cause. And why not? They have to live with reality, and the reality today is that everyone is taking advantage of media to their own advantage, so why not for a just cause?The forceful occupation on flimsy grounds of Tibet by China was wrong on all accounts and was purely driven by greed and potential for exploitation of resources of Tibet, such as water and minerals. Just because UN or the so called power brokers of the world did not come to the rescue of Tibetians does not mean it was justified or legal in any way, shape or form.
The only country that came to their help in any meaningful way was India – which provided them a safe haven to settle and preserve their cultural identity and language. We should all feel very proud of that – because when it comes to rendering any meaningful help, without any strings attached, even institutions like UN, shied away from helping them against the unjust and forceful occupation by China.
That said, the current protests, atleast in India and perhaps also in Nepal, have been very peaceful. So why do we see statements from MEA (ministry of external affairs) that they are not allowed to protest? Why are we seeing images of them being forcefully stopped, being hauled away and being arrested? Nepal has even banned climbing expeditions to the mountains, lest some of the expedition members, protest against China in the rarified regions where human protest has never been recorded before. Just goes to show how much “grounds” need to be covered to cover up a deceitful deed.
For China, the Dalai Lama, the revered, soft spoken 70+ years old, Buddhist monk, with no army, no weapons, no nation, is somehow a bigger threat than any terrorist – and they must think everyone in the world is totally retarted to believe, their official statement, that all of this protest has been somehow masterminded by this one person. Did someone ever tell the Chinese that the truth is mightier than the biggest army? I am sure this is one is covered by Confucius – but when you have a huge army, and a galloping economy, you sometimes ignore the teachings of wise men, only to rediscover the truth in their teaching.
And BTW, since when did India ban the right to hold a peaceful protest? In the land of Mahatma Gandhi, how come we have turned away from his ideals?
Don’t know how other Indians feel, but this kind of state supression for something that is so right, is downright shameful.
And for those of us who feel “they” when it comes to Indians of Tibetian origins, most of them are as Indian as anyone else, as they were born and brought up in India. Besides that, they are one of the host of ethenic minorities in India who are law abiding and as patriotic as others. So they have the same damn rights as any other Indian to gather and protest whatever they don’t like about India, China or the world. If politicians and the establishment, believe that people in India have the damn right to have violent protest against cartoons published in faraway Denmark – why are these legitimate peaceful protests a “problem”?
So has China outsourced its repression and/or law and order over to India and Nepal?
And why are we doing their bidding?
When did India sign off the rights of Indians (whether of Tibetian origin or not) to protest the occupation and cultural steamrolling of China over Tibet?
Could we also know, what pact India has signed off with other countries, where Indians are suddenly not allowed the freedom to express themselves in a peaceful manner?
And even if we imagine for a moment, that this is a quid pro quo – what favour does China do for India? China has repeatedly thwarted India’s entry into the UN security council. It has illegally taken a large chunk of Kashmir, a territory which is under dispute with Pakistan. It keeps ingressing into Indian territory in the North East especially near Arunachal Pradesh. It goes into fits whenever the Dalai Lama is shown any respect anywhere in the world. It recently, threatened our PM from paying a state visit to Arunachal Pradesh (Tawang area), and sadly, the PM did not have the guts to tell them to go take a hike, somewhere else. China has over the years bribed and encouraged all kinds of separatists to keep causing problems for India – this is especially true of the north east region. It has consistently sided with Pakistan, providing advanced technology and sophisticated weaponry, again, to ensure that India is kept in tangles. In short, if they just kept to themselves, it would be a great help to India.
For law abiding citizens who protest peacefully, our police under the directions of their political bosses, take the high handed approach and haul them away in police vans. What do we do for violent, unjustified, constitutionally illegal protests? Read on…
Just a few weeks back we witnessed two weeks of rampage by goons under the “able” direction of Raj Thakerey – the police just stood on the sidelines when right in front of their eyes, public property was destroyed and citizens were being intimidated and beaten up. Every year several groups and political parties go on a rampage, destroy public property, cause large scale disruption of the economy and hardship to people – and the police take no action at all. In the end, those responsible for unprovoked, unjustified, blatantly illegal, grossly violent protests are never charged, never arrested, never carted away, never penalized – leading to more and more retarted people resorting to such tactics. It took the Mumbai police about 2 weeks to arrest Raj – and he was out on bail in 15 minutes flat, with a little tickle on his wrist – he had to pay Rs 15,000 for bail! The PM and CM were mute spectators and allowed this whole MNS episode to play out and in the end the CM declared that he wanted to come up with a “compensation package” for those affected – so goons are allowed to cause destruction and hardship to everyone else, and who has to pick up the tab? Not the goons but the tax payers! And this is not the first time. Everytime some group with political connections goes on a rampage, the “package” comes out of the tax payers. Is it any wonder that a state like Maharashtra is in debt?
So somewhere along the way, our politicians and MEA strategists have, without our knowledge, signed off our rights, in a quid pro quo, with China and perhaps with other countries.
No wonder that we have had a luke warm reaction from our politicians? When it comes to Mahatma Gandhi the Cong-I lays first claim (they just manipulated to hang onto his last name) to his heritage and values – they seem to be pretty muted right now. Our PM as ususal, is in mute mode; “hear no evil, see no evil, therefore no reason to act”. What about our human rights “watch dogs”, and surrogates of the Chinese Govt in India – the marxists? At other times, it seems they have a monopoly on “human rights”, bestowing it on rapists, terrorists, naxalites, illegal immigrants etc. So why are there no street protests for the human rights of Tibetians in China. In the marxists view are Tibetians any less human or have they (marxists) been bribed so much that their lips are sealed? Fortunately, atleast some politicians raised this question in the parliament; but more than that it is for us people to be aware and to show our support, even if politicians have sold India’s soul.
It seems in today’s heartless environment, when many other traditions are under threat, this one tradition that made India stand out as a country with a heart – has perhaps been signed off, without the knowledge of its citizens.
Could the citizens alteast know what deals India has cut with heartless nations like China and others, so we may be more circumspect when we go marching on the streets, the next time?
Jai Hind: Proud to be an Indian 