Indian Buddhists Want To Bar Dalai Lama
(AFP | Bodhgaya | December 16, 2002)
Buddhist monks in eastern India's Bihar state launched a campaign Monday to prevent exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama from participating in a prestigious Buddhist festival.
They said the Dalai Lama could face a threat to his life if he were to participate in the Kalchakra festival to be held in Bodhgaya in Bihar from January 11-20.
The All India Monks Federation, composed of ethnic Indians who converted to Buddhism, oppose the participation of the Dalai Lama and other Tibetan spiritual leaders in the festival as they want to limit their influence in India, observers say.
They seek instead to assert their own control over local Buddhist shrines and religious festivals.
"If the Dalai Lama and Karmapa (Urgen Thinley Dorji) showed resistance to attend the Kalchakra Puja here, they themselves will be solely responsible for the threat to the life and properties of participating monks and guests," the Federation said in a statement.
That neither the Dalai Lama nor Karmapa, a prominent Tibetan Buddhist, have publicly condemned the demolition of Lord Buddha's statues by the Taliban in Bamiyan, Afghanistan, has also done little to endear the exiled Buddhist spiritual leader to the Federation.
The Kalchakra Puja, a festival of Tibetan rituals, is one of the largest gatherings of Buddhist monks and devotees that draws thousands of participants from around the world.
Undeterred, the Dalai Lama has already confirmed he would attend the ten-day Kalchakra Puja.
Bodhgaya's commissioner, HC Serohi, told AFP that tight security would be deployed around the area for the festival. "We have requisitioned special forces and have also decided to involve non-governmental groups in ensuring high security," he said, and advised that foreign attendees would be closely scrutinized for security purposes.
Local officials said intelligence indicated the Dalai Lama could also be targeted in attacks by Chinese agencies. The Dalai Lama fled Tibet after an abortive uprising in 1959 and established the government-in-exile. China, which has ruled Tibet since 1951, has been accused of trying to wipe out its Buddhist-based culture through political and religious repression and a flood of ethnic Chinese immigration.
Friends of Tibet (INDIA),
PO Box 16674, Bombay 400050
www.friendsoftibet.org