A life wasted

The savvy Tibetan protesters should have ensured Jhampel Yeshi did not die

The savvy Tibetan protesters should have ensured Jhampel Yeshi did not die

It sounds cruel now to say Jhampel Yeshi should have known better. But somebody should have told the 27-year-old that no cause is big enough to sacrifice ones life for. Which is not to take away from the pertinence or justness of a cause,but to lament the absence of that sensible and responsible somebody who could have stepped in,before it was too late,to prevent this altogether unnecessary and tragic waste of a young life. On Monday,two days before Chinese President Hu Jintaos visit to India for the fourth BRICS summit,Yeshi set himself on fire in the presence of fellow protesters and journalists at Jantar Mantar. On Wednesday morning,he succumbed to his burn injuries in hospital.

Yeshis story weaves itself into the larger narrative of Tibetan refugees in India. Having reportedly fled from Tibet in 2006,he had been living in the Tibetan settlement of Majnu ka Tila in New Delhi. Over the last five decades,about a lakh-and-a-half of Tibetan exiles have sought refuge in India,a process begun by the Dalai Lamas flight in 1959. Naturally,having done the humane thing of sheltering them,India had to accept the political import of their presence in the country,as well as their political activism on condition they keep themselves within the bounds of reticence expected of guests. The Tibetans have largely observed that line,except for the outbursts of turbulence in their protests,usually around the visit of a Chinese dignitary. Yeshis self-immolation is that sense of grievance bursting forth. And it changes nothing; just as the self-immolation bids by monks and civilians in Tibet change nothing. Such attempts,unfortunately,continue to be disturbingly common in India,as witnessed in the Telangana stirs. Tibetans in India have,over years,enmeshed themselves in local culture while successfully preserving their own as their government-in-exile was set up to do. The community is a part of the Indian national psyche and social demographic. That is to everybodys credit. But that also drives home the pointlessness of Yeshis death. It was just the waste of a life which could have done a lot with itself otherwise.