Tenzin Nyidon
DHARAMSHALA, Nov. 17: The Central Ghoton Organising Committee of the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) on Monday commemorated the 75th anniversary of His Holiness the Great 14th Dalai Lama’s assumption of spiritual and temporal leadership of Tibet at the courtyard of the Thekchen Choeling Tsughlakhang in Dharamshala.
The ceremony was graced by the presence of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and attended by Her Excellency Dr. Eliska Zigova, Czech Ambassador to India, and Yashbir Singh, IFS, Liaison Officer of the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India. Former liaison officers and DSPs who had served His Holiness in Dharamshala were also present.
In her address, Czech Ambassador Dr. Eliska Zigova drew a poignant parallel between the day’s commemoration and the historical significance of 17 November for the Czech people, marking the 1989 Velvet Revolution, which peacefully ended four decades of communist rule in Czechoslovakia. She recalled how President Vaclav Havel, newly released from prison in the wake of the revolution, became the nation’s first democratic president and promptly invited His Holiness the Dalai Lama to Prague, forging a deep moral and political bond between Tibet and Czechoslovakia, now the Czech Republic.
Reflecting on leadership, Ambassador Zigova spoke of the universal need for wise, compassionate, and principled guidance in all spheres of life, within families, schools, and nations. She highlighted His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s exemplary spiritual and temporal leadership, noting how his life continues to inspire people globally. She revisited the immense responsibility placed on the young 15-year-old Dalai Lama in 1950, the turbulent years that followed, the 1959 escape into exile, and His Holiness’s immediate efforts upon arriving in India to establish schools and homes for Tibetan children.
Recalling her visit earlier this year to the Tibetan Homes Foundation School in Mussoorie, she expressed admiration for the students’ education, care, and especially their continued fluency in Tibetan, now preserved into the third generation in exile. She expressed optimism for the future of the Tibetan nation and offered prayers for the long life of His Holiness, whom she described as a spiritual leader cherished far beyond the Tibetan community.
The commemoration featured a gratitude offering to His Holiness by former students of seven residential Central School for Tibetans (CST) institutions across India, alongside students from Tibetan Children’s Village (TCV) Dharamshala, Tibetan Homes Foundation Mussoorie, and Tibetan day schools in India and Nepal. The event was also attended by CTA leadership, including President Penpa Tsering and Speaker of the 17th Tibetan Parliament in Exile, Khenpo Sonam Tenphel.
CTA President Penpa Tsering and Speaker Khenpo Sonam Tenphel also delivered the official statements of the Cabinet and the Tibetan Parliament in Exile. Their addresses highlighted the far-reaching impact of His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s leadership since the age of 16, from his early efforts to seek common ground and resolve the Tibet–China conflict during the PRC’s initial occupation of Tibet, to the later articulation of the Middle Way Approach. They highlighted His Holiness’s unwavering commitment to improving the welfare of ordinary Tibetans and his historic reforms to democratise the Tibetan political system during some of the most difficult periods in Tibet’s modern history.
Tibet has lived in peace and harmony for centuries after Buddhism pacified the population after the great Tibetan Empire from 7th to 9th century. Tibetans were most of the time ruled by Lamas from the time of Drogon Choegyal Phakpa, who became the preceptor of the Mongol ruler Kublai Khan. Since the time of the 5th Dalai Lama, successive Dalai Lama’s ruled Tibet until 17th March 1959 when the Dalai Lama was forced to flee Tibet owing to the illegal and brutal occupation of Tibet by communist China. The day the present Dalai Lama was enthroned was undoubtedly the most joyous day since all the search for the reincarnation was long and torturous since he was born in Amdo region which was under the occupation of a Muslim warlord by the name of Ma Bufang, he was demanding huge ransom. So, they had to elude his greed by telling him, the child was just a candidate not the Dalai Lama. Besides, there was the danger of the Chinese sending troops under the pretext of escort but in reality to legitimise their claims over Tibet. All through the peaceful years when the Manchu empire collapsed in 1911 and Tibet reasserted its independence on February 13th 1913, it seems Tibet did nothing to reorganise its army or sent diplomats to foreign countries to appraise of its independence. The only significant international event that Tibet participated was the 1945 Afro-Asian conference at the behest of the Government of India. During this conference, Tibet’s national flag flew high with the rest of all attending Afro-Asian nations. The Dalai Lama bemoans that Tibet did not sent a large delegation during the Indian independence celebrations on August 15th 1947! It seems our leaders thought that the time stood still! If the leadership had any notion of emphasising its sovereignty, it should have done by sending delegations and diplomats but Tibetans were under the impression that we were independent since our Government was in full control of our territory and since we had no border issues, the Government never saw the need to dispel the disinformation successive Chinese Governments made about Tibet. Sun yet sen and the Changkai Shek’s Kumintang continued with their lies about Tibet. Changkai Shek wrote to the Tibetan Government to join China for which the Tibetans showed cold shoulder! Meanwhile, they went to lay claims on Tibet at international forums which other countries start to believe. The Manchus didn’t claim Tibet directly but made pompous statements saying, the ambans in Tibet were “viceroys”. To this baseless claim Lord Curzon made this statement: “CHINA’S SOVEREIGNTY OVER TIBET IS A CONSTITUTIONAL FICTION- A POLITICAL AFFECTATION WHICH HAS ONLY BEEN MAINTAINED BECAUSE OF ITS CONVENIENCE TO BOTH PARTIES. AS A MATTER OF FACT, THE TWO CHINESE (Manchu Ambans) AT LHASA ARE THERE NOT AS VICEROYS BUT AS AMBASSADORS”. We can clearly see from Lord Curzon’s statement that Chinese made pompous claims to bolster their fabricated claims but in reality, they were just ordinary representatives of other countries like the British Indian ambassador, Bhutanese ambassador and Nepali ambassadors! This is corroborated by none other than a Chinese intellectual by the name of Sun Shuyun,who travelled to Tibet under Chinese occupation in the 1980s or 1990s and wrote a book called “A YEAR IN TIBET”. She was obviously not one of those brainwashed by the communist party. She ridicules the CCP propaganda they were taught at Primary school how as to how, “China gave benefits of superior civilisation to Tibet. In 641 a Chinese princess named Wen Cheng married Sontsen Gampo and took her advanced knowledge to Tibet…. Including a Buddha statue and Buddhism itself! In the most exaggerated version of the tale, her beauty and influence won the king’s heart and he decided to built the Potala palace for her”. She adds even more sarcastically, “In other words, most good things Tibet has, it owes to her, a mere 16 year old girl”!!! Coming back to Manchu claims that have been totally untrue and exposed by Lord Curzon, she has even worse things to say about the Manchu Ambans. She states “The imperial court started sending officials to Tibet in 1727. They were called Ambans but mostly posted for transgressions of some sort. In 185 years up till the last emperor in 1911, there were a total of 135 of them, they did not stay too long, only a dozen according to scholars, were competent, while most were for the most part PASSIVE, CONTEMPTUOUS AND CORRUPT” “One of them described Tibetans as stupid as deer and pigs”. Through out history, the Chinese and Manchus and others had their preconceived racist attitude against Tibetans. That is why, the communists made racist propaganda to RACIALLY VILIFY THE TIBETANS AS BARBARIC, SAVAGES AND DARK! As 95 year old Indian photographer Prem Prakash who took the film and photos of the Dalai Lama arriving in Tezpur in March 1959 describes in an interview, “CHINESE ARE WICKET. THEY SAY SOMETHING BUT MEAN SOMETHING ELSE”! Through their wicket ways, they have stolen our country and dismantled the legitimate Government of Tibet under the leadership of the Dalai Lama! We must never FORGIVE THE CHINESE COMMUNIST ENEMY FOR STEALING OUR COUNTRY AND OPPRESSING OUR PEOPLE! WE MUST HOLD DEEP GRUDGE AGAINST THEM LIKE THEY HOLD AGAINST THE JAPANESE. IF WE DON’T WE WILL BE INDEED “STUPID LIKE DEERS AND PIGS”!!!