DHARAMSHALA, January 16: Tibetan Parliamentarians on an all-India lobbying campaign for global intervention in the crisis in Tibet have met with the Honourable Governor of Odhisha Murli Chandrakant Bhandare and other senior leaders of the state in Bhubaneswar city.

The north-east zone parliamentary delegation began the second leg of their solidarity campaign, after meeting senior leaders in West Bengal state, in the capital city of Odhisha on January 13 with a mass solidarity rally and a candle light vigil. Hundreds of Tibetans and Indian supporters who took part in the solidarity campaign urged Indian leaders and masses for public expressions of “solidarity with the 96 self-immolations inside Tibet and urgent action on ending the crisis in Tibet.”

On January 14, the Tibetan MPs called on the honourable Governor of Odhisha Murli Chandrakant Bhandare at the Raj Bhavan. According to Tibetan MP and member of the delegation, Dhardon Sharling, Governor Bhandare expressed anguish over the prolonged suffering that Tibetans inside Tibet have been subjected to under China’s erroneous policies.

"I truly wish for a solution to this long-standing issue and the Tibetan identity must be recognised and their true aspirations valued," the Governor told the Tibetan delegation while recognising the current 'Middle Way Policy' of the Central Tibetan Administration as “befitting and practical”.

The Tibetan MPs held meetings with senior ministers and leaders of the ruling Biju Janta Dal, including Debi Mishra, Minister for Agriculture and Niranjan Pujari, Minister for Industry and Excise. The ministers pledged the support of the state government for the Tibetan struggle.

The four-member delegation also held a series of meetings and discussions with prominent Indian leaders, intellectuals, social activists, and officials in Bhubaneswar, including B K Patnaik, Chief Secretary, Government of Odisha, Padmashri Dr DP Patnaik , Dr Amiya Patnaik, Vice Chancellor of Utkal University of Culture, Bhupinder Singh, Congress MLA and leader of opposition, and Jual Oram, former Union Minister and at present the state president of Bharatiya Janta Party.

Sharling noted that the meetings "proved effective in keeping the political leaders abreast with the true adversity of the Tibetan life inside Tibet and in appealing for urgent diplomatic intervention from the Indian side in light of the deepening crisis inside Tibet."

In the next two days, the Tibetan parliamentary delegation hopes to meet other prominent leaders in the state and intensify their lobbying efforts for an "All-Party Parliamentary resolution on Tibet".

Three parliamentary delegations are currently lobbying in different parts of India as part of the exile Tibetan administration’s attempts at garnering wider support for international intervention in the ongoing crisis inside Tibet.