- Friday, April 19, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
TIBETAN spiritual leader Dalai Lama on Wednesday (10) slammed China saying its leadership doesn’t “understand the variety of different cultures” while lauding India as a centre of religious harmony.
The 86-year-old leader, who has been residing in India for several decades now, made the remarks during an online news conference in Tokyo, Japan, Al Jazeera news channel reported. The Dalai also criticised the Chinese leaders, saying that the “narrow-minded Chinese Communist leaders” did not appreciate the unique culture in Tibet and Xinjiang.
He said the problem emanates from “too much control by Han people”, the largest ethnic group in China.
“I know Communist Party leaders since Mao Zedong. Their ideas (are) good. But sometimes they do much extreme, tight control,” the Dalai Lama was quoted as saying by Al Jazeera.
The spiritual leader, along with his followers, fled to India from Tibet in 1959 during an invasion by the Chinese forces. China calls the Buddhist monk a “separatist”, who is seeking to secede Tibet from China.
The Dalai Lama also praised Taiwan at the event, saying the island-nation was the true repository of China’s ancient culture since things were “too politicised” on the mainland.
He also said that he had no plan to meet Chinese president Xi Jinping but expressed a wish to visit the country to see old friends.
“I prefer to remain here in India, peacefully,” he said while praising India as a centre of religious harmony.
