Dalai Lama: Prefer India, no point in returning to China

As Chinese soldiers had marched into Tibet in 1950 and resistance to its rule in the region intensified, the Dalai Lama fled to India in 1959.

The Dalai Lama leads the Tibetan government-in-exile. (File photo)

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Amid renewed cross-border tensions between India and China, the Dalai Lama on Monday said that there was no point in returning to China and he prefers living in India.

Speaking to reporters, the Dalai Lama said, “Kangra, Pandit Nehru’s choice, this place is my permanent residence.”

#WATCH | Kangra, Himachal Pradesh: Dalai Lama says, “…There is no point in returning to China. I prefer India. That’s the place. Kangra – Pandit Nehru’s choice, this place is my permanent residence…” pic.twitter.com/Wr6dGEPIIx

— ANI (@ANI) December 19, 2022

The Dalai Lama, now 86, is a spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhists and a Nobel laureate. He was identified as the 14th incarnation of the Dalai Lama two years after his birth. As Chinese soldiers marched into Tibet and resistance to its rule in the region intensified, the Dalai Lama fled to India in 1959.

Then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru granted him political asylum and he started living in Himachal Pradesh’s McLeodganj ever since.

The Dalai Lama’s statement comes days after Defence Minister Rajnath Singh told Parliament that the Indian Army had resisted an attempt by China to change the status quo on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Arunachal Pradesh and pushed back People’s Liberation Army soldiers engaged in the incursion attempt. Both Indian and Chinese soldiers had suffered some injuries in the clash, he said.

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