Indians are "lazy" and must work hard like the Chinese, Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama said in New Delhi on Friday. "As a critic, I feel sometimes people in India are lazy. You should work hard. Look at the Chinese, they work very hard," he said. In a lighter vein, he also said, "Wherever the Chinese go, they make China towns. However, nowhere in the world there are any 'India towns'."
However, negating China's economic growth, the Dalai Lama attacked it for "lacking" values like transparency and free information which were important for a successful democracy. "Money is important. Nobody is denying that. But there are other values like democracy, respect for others' views... these are the foundations of successful democracy," the Tibetan spiritual leader said.
He also referred to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's recent remarks in which he talked about China progressing more than India economically but the country having other fundamental values -- democracy, openness, transparency, free information, independent judiciary -- which the Chinese lack.
The Dalai Lama was speaking at a function organised by the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) to commemorate the 100th birth anniversary of Mother Teresa. According to reports, Chinese economy has recorded a stellar growth of 11.9 per cent in the first three months of 2010, marginally higher than projected. Indirectly referring to China's media control efforts, the Dalai Lama said, "There is something wrong if there is fear and doubt. You cannot be then transparent, truthful or honest and have to carry censorship."
He noted that India is very rich culturally and spiritually and post-independence it has remained the most stable country in the region. "Of course there are problems like that in Jammu and Kashmir. That is mainly due to Pakistan and due to partition which was totally opposed by Mahatma Gandhi."
