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ABVP to drum up support for Tibetan cause

Amberish K Diwanji in New Delhi

His Holiness the Dalai Lama will inaugurate the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad's national conference in Dharamsala, Himachal Pradesh, tomorrow. The theme for the conference, which marks fifty years of the ABVP, is 'Indian Public on Tibet'.

The ABVP is the student wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. And though it is not directly connected to the Bharatiya Janata Party, which is also affiliated to the RSS, many top BJP politicians of today earned their spurs in the ABVP.

Incidentally, this is the second time the Dalai Lama will be inaugurating an ABVP national conference. He had inaugurated and attended a similar function in the late 1980s.

An ABVP official said the organisation is seeking to observe the party's 50th anniversary along with the 40th anniversary of the Dalai Lama's flight from Lhasa.

While India officially accepts Chinese suzerainty over Tibet, the right-wing parties have never fully reconciled themselves to this view. The RSS, ABVP and some Socialist parties have often sought to reverse India's official stand on Tibet, whose case most Indians view with sympathy.

Prof Anand Kumar, secretary of the Indo-Tibet Friendship Society, said the ABVP's invitation to the Dalai Lama was a way to test the ground. "The BJP and RSS are using the ABVP to try and improve relations with the Tibetan spiritual and temporal leader, but in a manner that no finger can be pointed at them. Being in government, the BJP obviously cannot do anything directly. And the RSS too has to be guarded," explained Anand Kumar, who teaches sociology at New Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University.

"We have been having talks with China all these years to no effect," said the ABVP official. "Though we understand that the government has to carry on with the talks, we believe India must support the cause of a free Tibet."

The ABVP is actively involved in canvassing for a free Tibet and is also associated with the Tibetan Youth Congress. "We consider India's acceptance of Chinese rule over Tibet a blunder," the ABVP official said.

But what might be of greater concern to the Chinese authorities at present is that Defence Minister George Fernandes is known to sympathise with the Tibetan cause. Fernandes had caused a furore by openly declaring China the greatest potential threat to India soon after the nuclear tests in May 1998. Moreover, many persons belonging to groups opposed to the ruling junta in Burma, which is supported by China, stay in Fernandes's house in New Delhi.

Many MPs support the Tibetan cause in their individual capacities. For instance, the president of the Indo-Tibetan Friendship Society is Rabi Ray, former speaker of the Lok Sabha and a senior Janata Dal politician. Similarly, the Tibetans claim the support of Arjun Singh of the Congress and, of course, many from the BJP.

Meanwhile, Tibetans and Indians have been holding rallies and protest marches in New Delhi throughout the week of March 6-12 to highlight Chinese atrocities in Tibet and get the Indian government to change its position. On April 27, 1998, a Tibetan named Thupten Ngodup immolated himself in protest against the Chinese occupation and Indian indifference, embarrassing New Delhi and angering Beijing. It was perhaps to prevent a repeat of such events that a huge police contingent turned out in riot gear to keep a close watch on the demonstrations.

Lobsang Norbu 'Shastri', who works as a translator of Sanskrit at the Institute of Buddhist Studies in Sarnath, Uttar Pradesh, said he remains hopeful of the Indian government becoming more sympathetic to Tibetan independence.

"We have the support of the Indian people along the Himalayan belt and this demonstration is to win even more support for our cause," he said. "The more support we win, the more the government will listen to us. After all, in a democracy no government will ever disregard public opinion."

Lobsang Norbu said the Tibetans are willing to accept autonomy, but the Chinese are unwilling to give them "true autonomy". "They are only destroying our country's soul and spirit," he said.

Arvind Varun had come all the way from Muzaffarpur, Bihar, to support the Tibetan rally in Delhi. "A free Tibet will mean India's border problems with China will disappear along with their claim for Arunachal Pradesh. Hence it is in India's interest to back a free Tibet," he said.

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