`Kudasana'

By Manuwant Choudhary

Shri Laloo Prasad Yadav says in The Week that Baba Ramdev was only teaching a new asana at Ram Lila Grounds - Kudasana (the asana to jump).

He also mentions his similarities with the Baba - both are Yadav's, both come from poor families and both are Gurus.

Laloo says that Baba Ramdev should come to him if wants lessons in politics !

Both are also socialists.

The similarities end there.

Baba Ramdev is a new-age crusader against corruption while Laloo supports corruption.

And while Baba Ramdev knows `Kudasana' a very senior journalist once told us how Laloo knows `bhagasan' (asana on how to run).

Once when his procession was lathicharged Laloo ran and hid in the old Telegraph newspaper office in Patna and he had his slippers neatly tucked under his armpits!

Wonder whether a rich Laloo Prasad would still not forget his slippers when he runs.

Socialists have been very corrupt in India yet they can be colourful and go on a dharna or fast for anything and everything...like I would say more President George Bush effigies have been burnt at Patna than anywhere else in the world.

And about fasts...the Swatantra Party's founder C Rajagopalachari (a Gandhian himself) when asked by journalists why he did not undertake fasts against Indira Gandhi's misrule he replied, "I am not a fool. When Gandhiji fasted he fasted against the British who were democratic. Indira Gandhi and the Congress Party are not democratic. They would let me die."

`Just Techicalities' About Sonia Gandhi

By Arun Shourie

The day I entered Indiraji's household I became an Indian, the rest is just technical -- that is Sonia Gandhi's latest explanation for not having acquired Indian citizenship till fourteen years after her marriage to Rajiv Gandhi.

First the facts. Surya Prakash, the Consulting Editor of The Pioneer, has documented these in detail. Sonia married Rajiv on 25 February, 1968. Under section 5(c) of the Indian Citizenship Act she became eligible to register herself as a citizen of India on 25 February, 1973. She chose to continue as a citizen of Italy. She applied for Indian citizenship only ten years later, on 7 April, 1983.

A foreigner seeking Indian citizenship has to state on oath that he or she has relinquished his or her citizenship of the original country. This requirement was all the more necessary in the case of an Italian citizen: under Italian law, an Italian taking citizenship of another country continues to retain his or her Italian citizenship. Sonia Gandhi's application did not have the requisite statement, nor did it have any official document from the appropriate authorities in Italy. The omission was made up in a curious way: the Ambassador of Italy stepped in, and wrote to the Government saying that Sonia Gandhi had indeed given up her citizenship of Italy. He did so on 27 April, 1983. Sonia got her citizenship forthwith -- on 30 April, 1983.

Another nugget Surya Prakash has unearthed is that while Sonia became a citizen on 30 April, 1983, her name made its way to the electoral rolls as of 1 January, 1980! In response to an objection, it had to be deleted in late 1982. But sure enough, it was put back on the electoral roll as of 1 January, 1983. She hadn't even applied for citizenship till then.

All technicalities! If any ordinary person were to proceed in the same way, he would be up for stern prosecution.

Maruti was one of the most odious scandals connected with Mrs Indira Gandhi and her family. The Commission of Inquiry headed by Justice A C Gupta recorded that, though she was at the time a foreigner, Sonia Gandhi secured shares in two of their family concerns: Maruti Technical Services Pvt. Ltd. (in 1970 and again in 1974), and Maruti Heavy Vehicles (in 1974). The acquisition of these shares was in contravention of the very Act that Mrs Gandhi used to such diabolic effect in persecuting her political opponents, the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 1973. Just another technicality!

But the Mother of Technicalities, so to say, is to be found in the way Sonia Gandhi, without having any known sources of income, has become the controller of one of the largest empires of property and patronage in Delhi. The Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Library and Museum is one of the principal institutions for research on contemporary Indian history. It is situated in and controls real estate which, because of its historical importance, cannot even be valued. The institution runs entirely on grants from the Government of India. Sonia Gandhi has absolutely no qualification that could by any stretch of imagination entitle her to head the institution: has she secured even an elementary university degree, to say nothing of having done anything that would even suggest some specialization in subjects which the institution has been set up to study. But by mysterious technicalities she is today the head of this institution. So much so that she even decides which scholar may have access to papers -- even official papers -- of Pandit Nehru and others of that family, including, if I may stretch the term, Lady Mountbatten.

Real estate, only slightly less valuable, has been acquired on Raisina Road. The land was meant to house offices of the Congress. A large, ultra-modern building was built -- the finance being provided by another bunch of technical devices which remain a mystery. The building had but to get completed, and Sonia appropriated it for the other Foundation she completely controls -- the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation. The Congress(I) did not just oblige by keeping silent about the takeover of its building, in the very first budget its Government presented upon returning to power, it provided Rs 100 crores to this Foundation. The furore that give-away caused was so great that the largesse had to be canceled. No problem. Business house after business house, even public sector enterprises incurring huge losses, coughed up crores.

The Foundation has performed two principal functions. The projection of Sonia Gandhi. And enticing an array of leaders, intellectuals, journalists etc. into nets of patronage and pelf.

But the audacity with which the land and building were usurped and funds raised for this Foundation falls into the second order of smalls when they are set alongside what has been done in regard to the Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts.

This Centre was set up as a trust in 1987 by a resolution of the Cabinet. The Government of India gave Rs. 50 crores out of the Consolidated Fund of India as a corpus fund to this Centre. It transferred 23 acres of land along what is surely one of the costliest sites in the world -- Central Vista, the stretch that runs between Rashtrapati Bhavan and India Gate -- to this Trust. Furthermore, it granted another Rs. 84 crores for the Trust to construct its building.

The land was government land. The funds were government funds. Accordingly, care was taken to ensure that the Trust would remain under the overall control of the Government of India. Therefore, the Deed of the Trust provided, inter alia,

Every ten years two-thirds of the trustees would retire. One half of the vacancies caused would be filled by the Government. One half would be filled by nominations made by the retiring trustees.
The Member Secretary of the Trust would be nominated by the Government on such terms and conditions as the Government may decide.
The President of India would appoint a committee from time to time to review the working of the Trust, and the recommendations of the committee would be binding on the Trust.
No changes would be made in the deed of the Trust except by prior written sanction of the Government, and even then the changes may be adopted only by three-quarters of the Trustees agreeing to them at a meeting specially convened for the purpose.
Now, just see what technical wonders were performed one fine afternoon.

A meeting like any other meeting of the trustees was convened on 18 May, 1995. The minutes of this meeting which I have before me list all the subjects which were discussed -- the minutes were circulated officially by Dr Kapila Vatsyayan in her capacity as the Director of the Centre with the observation, "The Minutes of this meeting have been approved by Smt Sonia Gandhi, President of the IGNCA Trust."

What did the assembled personages discuss and approve? Even if the topics seem mundane, do read them carefully -- for they contain a vital clue, the Sherlock Holmes clue so to say, about what did not happen.

The minutes report that the following subjects were discussed:

1: Indira Gandhi Memorial Fellowship Scheme and the Research Grant Scheme.
2: Commemoration volume in the memory of Stella Kramrisch.
3: Sale of publications of the IGNCA.
4: Manuscripts on music and dance belonging to the former ruling house of Raigarh in M P
5: Report on the 10th and 11th meetings of the Executive Committee.
6: Approval and adoption of the Annual Report and Annual Accounts, 1993-94.
7: Bilateral and multilateral programmes of IGNCA, and aid from U N agencies, Ford Foundation, Japan Foundation, etc.
8: Brief report on implementation of programmes from April 1994 to March 1995.
9: Brief of initiatives taken by IGNCA to strengthen dialogue between Indian and Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, China.
10: Documentation of cultural heritage of Indo-Christian, Indo-Islamic and Indo-Zoroastrian communities.
11: Gita Govinda project.
12: IGNCA newsletter.
13: Annual Action Plan, 1995-96.
14: Calendar of events. 15: Publications of IGNCA.
15: Matters relating to building project.
16: Allocations/release of funds for the IGNCA building project.

There is not one word in the minutes that the deed of the Trust was even mentioned.

This meeting took place on 18 May, 1995. On 30 May, 1995 Sonia Gandhi performed one of technical miracles. She wrote a letter to the Minister of Human Resources informing him of what she said were alterations in the Trust Deed which the trustees had unanimously approved. Pronto, the Minister wrote back, on 2 June, 1995: "I have great pleasure in communicating to you the Government of India's approval to the alterations."

The Minister? The ever-helpful, Madhav Rao Scindia. And wonder of wonders, in his other capacity he had attended the meeting on 18 May as a trustee of the IGNCA, the meeting which had not, according to the minutes approved by Sonia Gandhi, even discussed, far less "unanimously approved" changes in the Trust Deed.

And what were the changes that Sonia Gandhi managed to get through by this collusive exchange of two letters?

She became President for life.
The other trustees -- two-thirds of whom were to retire every ten years -- became trustees for life. The power of the Government to fill half the vacancies was snuffed out.
The power of the Government to appoint the Member Secretary of the Trust was snuffed out; henceforth the Trust would appoint its own Member Secretary.
The power of the President of India to appoint a committee to periodically review the functioning of the Trust was snuffed out; neither he nor Government would have any power to inquire into the working of the Trust.
A Government Trust, a Trust which had received over Rs. 134 crores of the tax-payers' money, a Trust which had received twenty three acres of invaluable land was, by a simple collusive exchange of a letter each between Sonia Gandhi and one of her gilded attendants became property within her total control.

The usurpation was an absolute fraud. The Trust Deed itself provided that no amendment to it could come into force -- on any reasonable reading could not even be initiated and adopted -- without prior written permission of the Government. Far from any permission being taken, even information to the effect that changes were being contemplated was not sent to Government. An ex post "approval" was obtained from an obliging trustee.

That "approval" was in itself wholly without warrant. Such sanctions are governed by Rule 4 of the Government of India (Transaction of Business) Rules, 1961. This Rule prescribes that when a subject concerns more than one department, "no order be issued until all such departments have concurred, or failing such concurrence, a decision thereon has been taken by or under the authority of the Cabinet." Other departments were manifestly concerned, concurrence from them was not even sought. The Cabinet was never apprised.

The rule proceeds to provide, "Unless the case is fully covered by powers to sanction expenditure or to appropriate or re-appropriate funds, conferred by any general or special orders made by the Ministry of Finance, no department shall, without the previous concurrence of the Ministry of Finance, issue any orders which may... (b) involve any grant of land or assignment of revenue or concession, grant... (d) otherwise have a financial bearing whether involving expenditure or not..."

And yet, just as concurrence of other departments had been dispensed with, no approval was taken from the Finance Ministry.

The Indian Express and other papers published details about the fraud by which what was a Government Trust had been converted into a private fief. Two members of Parliament -- Justice Ghuman Mal Lodha and Mr. E. Balanandan -- began seeking details, and raising objections.

For a full two and a half years, governments -- of the Congress(I), and the two that were kept alive by the Congress(I), those of Mr. Deve Gowda and of Mr. I. K. Gujral -- made sure that full facts would not be disclosed to the MPs, and that the concerned file would keep shuttling between the Ministry of Human Resource Development and the Ministry of Law.

As a result, Sonia Gandhi continues to have complete control over governmental assets of incalculable value -- through technicalities collusively arranged.

A latter-day Dalhousie -- annexation of Indian principalities through technicalities!

Arun Shourie is a former journalist, now a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party...this article was published at voiceofdharma.com

This Sardar Pays A Bribe For Being Innocent !

By Manuwant Choudhary

India's Prime Minister may be a sardar but even innocent sardar's pay a bribe.

Like I saw a crowd of policemen and people on a highway and I inquired what the commotion was all about so the inspector told me that there had been an accident and this large container truck parked alongside was the accused in the FIR.

But I had seen the truck parked there since morning. It had not moved an inch.

So I told the inspector, "Kya paisa kamane nikle hain?" (Are you on your rounds to earn money?)

The inspector sheepishly promised, "Sir, thana paisa nahin lega." (Sir, the police station will not take money.)

The police wanted to move the truck and the truck driver protested because if he moved his truck the only evidence he had that he was not involved in the accident would be destroyed.

Since it had rained just after the accident and the underside of the truck was a dry spot meaning the truck was stationed there before the rains.

But the police forced himto move.

For a few days the police said they were investigating the matter.

Some 200 local people gave in writing that the truck was stationed since morning. But the DSP refused to believe them.

And round the clock a chowkidaar was posted to guard the truck.

Everyday I told the chowkidar as to why he worked for thieves.

The chowkidar would get onto his cycle and and rush to the police station to complain that a person said the police are thieves.

The local DSP argued that 200 witnesses were not enough evidence.

He wanted money.

A few mechanics acted like go-betweens, pretending to support the truck driver, but convincing him that it would be better that he pays the DSP rather than be dragged into the case.

Just then the owner of the truck sent a fax - a copy of the printout - of the satellite GPS system which was installed in the truck.

It gave minute by minute account of the trucks movement.

It had not moved at all on the day of the accident.

The DSP settled for Rs.1100 ! (Eleven hundred rupees)

I asked the truck driver why he paid when he was innocent.

He replied he had no choice as he would be harassed by the police on this route everytime.


I asked him whether he was aware a sardar was India's Prime Minister.

He said, Yes.

I asked, "And you still pay a bribe."

I told him not to pay a bribe.

Only then can this country become great (Mera Bharat Mahan !)

Forget Anna Hazare and Manmohan Singh and the Ramdev Baba's and their committees.

I am the Lokepal.

You can be a Lokepal too.

Lock-up the police stations and 50 per cent of corruption will stop.

The Royal October Wedding

31-year-old Bhutan's King Jigme Khesar Namgyal Wangchuk is all set to marry Jetsun Pema, who studies at London's Regent College, this October so all weddings in Bhutan have been cancelled till their beloved king announces a wedding date and gets married. This means no weddings in Bhutan till October. Just wonder what would happen to our economy if Indians decided to wait for Rahul Gandhi to get married!

I am not sure about Bhutan's Gross Domestic Happiness but the Royal couple sure look happy.

India Raids Holy Money To Karmapa - 5

By Manuwant Choudhary

McLeodganj, Dharamsala: I envy the monks who sit on their computers overlooking the pines at the Dalai Lama Trust study room but am sure the Chinese hate this place and must be sending a million viruses to bug the Dalai Lama's computers.

As a journalist I have had a few extraordinary encounters that are still memorable.

One event was being pushed around by Tibetan women bodyguards of the Dalai Lama at Bodh Gaya even as we tried to get close enough to attract the Dalai Lama's attention, the women bodyguards were tough and rude but effective, "What journalist? We know no journalist."

So we were sent back some hunderds of metres away but even as the Dalai Lama emerged journalists shouted at the top of their voices, "His Holiness, His Holiness, His Holiness!"

And to our delight and surprise His Holiness looked at us and contrary to the itenary came towards us.

Hordes of cameras clicked away while TV crew pushed mikes into his face.

And His Holiness said, "Ask."

There was silence.

He smiled, "Ask. ask."

Complete silence again.

His Holiness laughed this time, "Questions, please."

Nothing came from the journalists who expected the Dalai Lama to give a sermon.

Just then I realised what the problem was...all the journalists there were Hindi speaking and they simply did not know English.

So on the spur of the moment I asked some 6 questions.

The Dalai Lama for the first time spoke out against the war in Iraq.

There was so much insecurity in the world that I asked his what is security and the Dalai Lama pointing to the gun weiliding bodyguards around him laughed, "This, this, no security."

He went on to explain perhaps like no one has what security means to the individual.

A rare insight into a great mind.

He looked me in the eye.

I have also seen the Dalai Lama being greeted by lakhs of Tibetans who worship him, and I can think of no individual who has shouldered his responsibilities as well as he has.

I asked him who will be the next Dalai Lama?

And he had replied, "I will be the last Dalai Lama."

Then added, "Tibetans should elect their leader. They can call him the Dalai Lama if they want to."

It is this democratic views of the Dalai Lama that really scare the Chinese.

The Chinese say they do not recognise him, yet they spend all their propoganda machine trying to target the Dalai Lama.



Over the years I have somehow become a pilgrim of peace.

I have been lucky to meet a few Nobel laureates like the Dalai Lama and South Korea's late President Kim Dae Jung.

Outside the Dalai Lama house is the familiar wooden post `May Peace Prevail On Earth."

Just as health is most important to an individual, peace is most important for the world.

I have also had an opportunity to visit the International Court of Justice at the Hague, where they have this post outside.

And I want to meet the brave lady of Burma Aung San Suu Kyi one day.



Near the Dalai Lama house is a museum of rare photographs. If you do visit Mcleodganj you cannot miss them. There are rare photographs of the Dalai Lama escaping from Tibet and about brave Generals who died fighting the Chinese.



I watched a film there. There were just three persons in the audience, the other two were westerners.

It was called `Red Flag Over Tibet."

I cried.

India Raids Holy Money To Karmapa - 4

By Manuwant Choudhary

McLeodganj, Dharamsala: I wanted to see the Tibetan parliament so I wandered down a path but I suddenly found myself surrounded by a million prayers.....a solitude...when even if you don't believe in God..you can feel his presence....a strong breeze made the prayer flags flutter....

I felt this once before at Kedarnath when I walked across the snow to the temple for the evening aartee. I had said, "If God exists, he lives here."

Many years later when I worked at the Afternoon Despatch & Courier, my editor Behram Contractor wrote a piece on Kedarnath saying the same `If there is God, he lives at Kedarnath'. Mr. Contractor was a Parsi and he had visited Kedarnath many years before I did.

As I stood amongst the fluttering prayer flags I felt closer to `The Maker'.

I also thought about distant Tibet.

The breeze carried with it something of Tibet.

I thought about the strange world of Tibetan buddhism where faith in non-violence is stronger than a rock....even thorns had prayer flags tied around them.

I thought about the world of incarnations and whether it was real.

Was it just a succession plan?

Does one have a past life?

Or a rebirth?

Why do we do what we do?

Why do we fall in love?

Why do we not fall in love with everyone?

What was I really doing at McLeodganj surrounded by these prayer flags, overlooking the breath-taking view of the plains.

From here it made everything that goes on in the world really petty....



I entered very briefly into the world of Tibetan Buddhism.

It is said that Buddhism came to Tibet in the reign of King Trisong Detsen - 755 CE, wherein Buddhism becomes Tibets official religion. It was the King who had invited famous Indian teachers like Shantarakshita and Padmasambahava to Tibet.

Until then the religion followed in Tibet was Bon.

It was Padmasambhava - a master of Tantra - who is credited with spreading Buddhism in Tibet. He built the Samye montastery and his influence on develpment of Tibetan Buddhism is incalculable. He was also referred to as Guru Rinpoche.

Nyingma - the oldest among the four major Tibetan Schools of Buddhism - claims Guru Rinpoche as its patriarch.

According to legend when Guru Rinpoche arrived in Tibet he pacified the Bon demons and made them protectors of `Dharma'.

Then comes the Kagyu sect, of which the Karmapa is the 17th descendant, so its the oldest lineage. The Karmapa is discovered only through letters left behind by the previous Karmapa..which should cite the time, year, place of birth..and other clues to enable high monks to find the incarnation.

Then comes the Gelug or the `Yellow Hat Sect'..the Dalai Lama is their spiritual leader and they value `compassion' the most.
It is said that a high lama from this sect Sonam Gyatso converted Mongol Altan Khan to Buddhism and it is bleieved that he gave the name to him Dalai Lama or `Ocean of Wisdom' in 1578. Sonam Gyatso was the 3rd Dalai Lama. The first two got their title posthumously.
Later Gashri Khan declared himself King of Tibet and in 1642 recognised the 5th Dalai Lama as spiritual and temporal leader of Tibet.

But again there is another theory which suggests the Dalai Lama existed before the invasions of the Mongols.

Then there is the Sakya whose head is Nawang Kunga Thekchen Rinpoche (born 1945) and their headquarters are at Rajpur in Uttar Pradesh.

THE KARMAPA CONTROVERSY

There are two claimants to being the Karmapa.

1) Trinley Thaye Dorje, born May 6 1983 at Lhasa, Tibet, and it is said that when he was 6 years old he began saying that he was the Karmapa. So in 1988 Shamar Rinpoche went on a secret visit to Lhasa since the boy appeared to him in a dream. In March 1994 Trinle Thaye Dorje escapes from Tibet to Nepal and then to India where Sharam Rinpoche recognises him as Karmapa. He lives at Kalimpong and apart from Tibetan studies he receives western education as well.


2) Ogyen Trinley Dorje, born June 26 1985, in eastern Tibet, he was born to nomadic parents who moved from one place to another...but his parents found his behaviour unusual when he insisted that his parents move camp early.

Thus when the search party came they found the boy in exactly the same place as was predicted in the letter handed down from the 16th Karmapa..he was recognised as Karmapa at the age of 7.

Tai Situpa gets an intution and finds a prediction letter in an envelope marked "Open in Metal Horse Year." Letter said the Karmapa was to be reborn `to the north, in the east of the land of the snow.'

Is a country where divine thunder spontaneously blazes.

In a beautiful nomad's place with the sign of a cow,

The method is Dhondrub and the wisdom is Lolaga.

Born in the year of the one used for the earth.

With the miraculous, far-reaching sound of the white one, is the one known as Karmapa.

Ogyen Trinley Dorje's mother's name is Loga and father is Karma Dondrub Tashi.

In June 1992 he moved to Central Tibet to Tolang Tsurphu Monastery - main seat of all previous Karmapas..

The Chinese recognsed him as a Karmapa.

So did the Dalai Lama who says he had a dream about the area where the Karmapa was found. Although the Dalai Lama has no say in lineage of other sects, lineage itself is extremely important in Tibetan Buddhism since tradition is sustained through teachers passing along their knowledge and wisdom to the next generation of disciples..

In 1999 the Karmapa Ogyen Trinley Dorge escapes from Tibet and arrives in India. Here he is warmly received by the Dalai Lama and the Indian government grants him asylum.

However, the Sharmapa Rinpoche refused to recognise him.

The first Karmapa & Sharmapa Rinpoche control the Karmapa Trust but have no control over the Rumtek monastery in Sikkim.
The monks who control the Rumtek monastery support Ogyen Trinley Dorje as the Karmapa. The matter has now gone to India's Supreme Court.

The Dalai Lama held a meeting with the Sharmapa Rinpoche to resolve the dispute for the sake of all Buddhism.

Ogyen Trinley Dorje met the Sharmapa Rinpoche at Oberoi International Hotel in New Delhi on January 9 2007..and the Dalai Lama met the Sharmapa on August 13 2010 and the Sharmapa promised to work towards an amicable solution, "Although this matter is not easily resolved since it is connected to the politics of China and India....."

The 16th Karmapa wrote this song in 1940.

In the springtime, a cuckoo comes as guest.

In the fall when the harvest ripens, it knows where to go.

Its only thought is travel to the east of India.

In the lofty land of Tibet, inhabitants high and low,

And in particular, you, Tai Situ the Lord and Protector of Maitreya,

Who remains above the crown of our head,

May your activities, like the sun and moon set in space,

Be continuous, stable and without hindrance.

I pray that we meet again and again.

(Credits to Wikipedia)

India Raids Holy Money To Karmapa - 3

By Manuwant Choudhary

McLeodganj, Dharamsala: Even as the Indian media cover the Karmapa issue like a cheap spy-thriller, this action of the Indian government in attempting to portray the Karmapa as a `Chinese spy' has hurt all Tibetans.

The Karmapa in his decade of exile has not said a word against the Indian government or against the Dalai Lama.

India is of course jittery that the Chinese have sent the Karmapa to India to gain control of the rich Rumtek monastery.

And what happens when the Karmapa succeeds the Dalai Lama as the spiritual and political heir of the Dalai Lama and says that the Chinese government is doing great work giving jobs to the Tibetans?

Questions and more questions.

But the real question is that is the secular Indian government meddling in Tibetan religious affairs only to control the Karmapa?

They have accused the Karmapa of violating foriegn exchange rules and also that he wanted to buy benami properties to build a monastery.

But while this may appear to be news to Indians, at Dharamsala itself this is an old issue and the Tibetan government in exile has been in talks with the Himachal Pradesh government to relax the rules to enable Tibetans to buy land openly.

Its ironical that while the BJP activists campaign against article 370 which grants special status to Kashmir, denying Indians the right to buy property there, it doesn't talk about section 118 Himachal Pradesh Tenancy & Land Reforms Act which is an old socialist act, which says only farmers can buy land in Himachal Pradesh.

Yes, you got that right even Himachali businessmen need government permission to buy land.

As for the Tibetans, India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru granted asylum, successive Indian governments have not addressed core issues faced by Tibetans. In 50 years their population has increased and surely they cannot live at refugee colonies all their lives.

They also have larger families to support so they become hotel oowners or run restaurants or sell wollens, many such businesses require land.

But Titebans were not allowed to buy land.

So like the Tibetans, the issue of the Karmapa should not be viewed from a purely legal viewpoint.

Surely, the Karmapa does not have a Chinese passport !



Near the Dalai Lama residence is a Buddha temple, and outside I watch a 3-year-old Tenzin Chechup plays with an Indian child.

I wondered what Tenzin would grow up to be.

Just a refugee - a child with no country.

I also wondered whether he would be as freindly to Indians when he grows.

Or will he be angry?

Would he even question his faith?

Tenzin's future lies in what we Indians do to him.

How our governments treat him?

So with all these questions I went to meet another Tibetan Member of Parliament Mr. Dawa Tsering. He also runs a school called Yongling School.

As I arrived at the school kindergarden school children greeted me with a smile and a `Namaste'.

When I just smiled at them, they became a chorus and shouted `Jee Maharaj' and burst out laughing.

It was clear they love to watch TV serials like the Mahabharat where courtiers worship their kings.

But Tibetans are no courtiers and hence the glee.

Tibetans are independent and free.

They want to return home but with self-respect and dignity and freedoms.

Never without.

By evening Mr. Dawa Tsering was at home. The first time he entered the Tibetan parliament was as a nominee of the Dalai Lama himself.

But through his years as Mayor of Mcleodganj and social works in the area he has a greater understanding of the problems faced by the Tibetan community.

He said, "The Tibetans did not buy the benami lands on their own, its their Indian friends who showed them a loop-hole in the laws that would enable them to get on with their lives."

Mr. Dawa Tsering explains, " the Indian government should have a policy that if a refugee is born here then he should be allowed to buy land."

Since 1996 Mr. Dawa Tsering has been campaigning for land rights to Tibetans.

But the Himachal government said that the only way to legalise benami transactions was for the Central Tibetan Administration to first submit them a list of the benami properties which the HP government would acquire and then lease it back to the Central Tibetan Authority after they pay 10 per cent of the market rates to the HP government.

So after years of struggle the Tibetans submitted a list of 70 benami properties, both individuals and institutions, and a cabinet order was passed on May 8, 2005, under Clause 3 of article 348 of the Constitution of India as a one-time settlement.
Later on a case to case basis also the HP government would grant permissions for buying land.

Said Mr Tsering, "So the Karmapa also has applied for permissions to buy land."

But the process is slow and even Tibetans are lazy about it all. "Its so much easier to give money and buy land."

Mr. Dawa Tsering's father served in the Indian territorial army and talking to him we did not see the time, until we found dinner on our tables in front.

Mr. Tsering is a vegetarian.

After a long day I relished the home-cooked chicken curry and rice.

I asked Mr. Tsering whether he enjoys his life as a Tibetan MP and what do the MPs do? His reply, "Often we have MPs taking credit for works completed months ago by someone else."

As I walked through the dark to my hotel I wondered why the Indian government agreed to stop talking about Tibet when China said that Sikkim is an integral part of India.

Its not the Karmpa, but the Indian government which has sold out to the Chinese.

We have abandoned Tibet.