‘No point in return to China, prefer India.. best place,’ says Dalai Lama

Stressing that Kangra in Himachal Pradesh is his “permanent residence”, Dalai Lama on Monday clarified that he would not consider return to China.

The 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet has been been living in Dharamshala in Himachal since 1959. This was after “the brutal suppression of the Tibetan national uprising in Lhasa by Chinese troops”, according to his official website, when he “was forced to escape into exile”.

On Monday, as he was asked to give a message to China, according to news agency ANI, following reports on clash between Indian and Chinese troops in Arunachal Pradesh’s Tawang, he said: “Things are improving in general in Europe, Africa and Asia… China too is becoming flexible. But there is no point in returning to China. I prefer India… best place,” Dalai Lama can be heard saying in a video tweeted by ANI. “Kangra-Pandit Nehru. This place is my permanent residence,” he further said. The December 9 clash in Tawang is the first since the standoff between troops in the sensitive Galwan area of Ladakh.

Dalai Lama is said to be “the present incarnation of the previous thirteen Dalai Lamas of Tibet (the first having been born in 1391 CE), who are in turn considered to be manifestations of Avalokiteshvara, or Chenrezig, the Bodhisattva of Compassion, holder of the White Lotus,” as per the official website. At age two, then named Lhamo Dhondup, he was recognised as the reincarnation of the previous 13th Dalai Lama, Thubten Gyatso.

“In exile, the Central Tibetan Administration led by His Holiness appealed to the United Nations to consider the question of Tibet. The General Assembly adopted three resolutions on Tibet in 1959, 1961 and 1965,” his website further reads.