The publication of this book is very well timed with Shri Guruji'sbirth centenary year and it very strongly brings out how the leaders of the nation through their ?Himalayan? blunder not only facilitated hijacking of Tibet'sfreedom but even led to insecure northern borders of India.
The first section of the book traces the history of India and Tibet to the period when there were no boundaries or borders separating the two. When the war of Mahabharata was being fought, kings from distant kingdoms had converged on the battlefield to participate in the war, some to fight for the Kauravas and some for the Pandavas. The war raged for 18 days and all kinds of destructive weapons were used. It soon became obvious that the Kauravas were losing the battle, so a chief among the Kauravas was seen escaping towards Tibet, the roof of the world. The
Tibetans at that time were engaged in internal war and strife when this chief reached Tibet. The locals struck by his demeanour and declared him as their king. It is said that Grivasanragya was actually Maharaj Rupati who was given the name Grivasanragya by the Tibetan priests and noblemen. The same King Rupati earned fame under the name of Dhichampo.
The author claims that Tibet'sancient history is as old as India?s. He says that even their script is same. King Songchen Gampo much later deported some Tibetan students to visit India and study the popular script here and on the basis of the Devanagri script, Thonmi Sambhat created the script of Tibetan language. It was on the basis of his name that the language acquired the name Bhotia. Kailash Mansarovar in Tibet became the popular pilgrimage centre for Hindus, Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs. According to the Tibetans, India was the land of the Aryans and China was Black China.
In the second section the author says that it was Jawaharlal Nehru who with the support of the communists in India changed the history of Tibet. In this section, the author described the emergence of Mao-tse Tung and his band of communists who announced the People'sRepublic of China on October 1, 1941. It was a period when a very few nations in the world had given recognition to China but India took no time in granting recognition to China?it did so on December 30, 1949. The Chinese leader, with his stand vindicated, declared at Beijing'sTiananmen Square, ?China has arisen now?. Long before this, Swami Vivekananda had called China ?a sleeping giant?.
Soon afterwards, the communists in India, in their meeting in Calcutta on February 1948, launched an aggressive movement supporting China. In 1951, China announced a 17-point China-Tibet treaty and made moves to take control over Tibet. The author points out that this was marked by celebrations not by Tibetans but by the Indian communists.
Without mincing words, the author points out that the then Indian ambassador to China was K.M. Panniker, when both Chiangkai Sheik and Mao-tse Tung were at the helm of affairs in China. Panniker said that the British policy should not be continued as it supported the view that India should hold special political rights on Tibet and that Tibet, as the apple of discord between India and China, was coming in the way of developing good relations between them. He criticises Panniker thus: ?He had thought that instead of giving up India'sright over Tibet to the Tibetan government, he wanted to hand it over to the Chinese government.?
The author quotes Shri Shri Guruji who had warned on March 13, 1954, ?China has lost Tibet in the north and claims its territorial rights over Mansarovar and Badrikadham. It is surreptitiously supplying arms and armament to Nepal and Bhutan to encourage infiltration. Efforts are on to spread terror right till Assam.? Guruji had asked the Indians not to relent under Chinese aggressive stance. In 1956 again Guruji warned the nation about the threat posed by China and the Indian government'sapathy. Here the author gives a detailed description of communist China'sderision of Buddhism, entry of Dalai Lama into India and Tibet'sstatus, demonstrations in Lhasa by the Tibetans against China, asylum to Dalai Lama in India and the role of communists in India.
The third section talks of Chinese attack and occupation of Tibet. There are interesting references to the situation prior to the occupation when India and China proclaimed vociferously, ?Hindi-Chini bhai-bhai?; talked of Panchsheel while unilaterally declaring a cease-fire on November 20, 1962 by virtue of which it occupied Indian territory; humiliated India in the world arena; and warned those Tibetans who harboured hopes of independence. The subsequent role of Indian communists has been vividly highlighted and is followed by Guruji'sefforts to enlighten the public about the increasing communist role in India.
The role of various Indian Prime Ministers on the Tibet issue and the valid suggestions made by the Bharatiya Jan Sangh, the developments among the Tibetan refugees, the perpetual threat to India'ssecurity and talk of package deal with China are the major highlights of the fourth section.
The fifth section is devoted to the conclusion in which the author speaks of the relevance of what Guruji had said on the Tibet issue and he concludes that it still is not too late when freedom can be brought to Tibet from the Chinese occupation.
(Bharat-Tibet Sahyog Manch, 1681 Main Bazar, Paharganj, New Delhi-110055.)
