Probe spurt of Tibetan monasteries: Centre tells Bengal

“It’s a very unusual thing that so many Tibetan monasteries are coming up there. We are probing who is behind this and who is funding them because we suspect a lot of foreign funds are involved,” a senior Home Department official told The Indian Express.

What comes as a matter of great concern for the Government is that north Bengal has been affected by the Gorkhaland and Kamtapuri movements and the area is becoming a safe haven for people inmical to the interests of India.

The Chinese Consulate too has expressed concern over the development. “I don’t want to say anything at this juncture. But I can say one thing — if the monasteries are used for activities that are against the interests of China,we have problems. But if they are used only for religious activities,we have no problem,” an official from the Chinese Consulate in Kolkata told The Indian Express.

Tibetans here are amused too. “We do not know much about the monasteries in north Bengal. We don’t have any interaction with those people,” said Tenzing Palbar,an activist of Kolkata-based Students for Free Tibet.