A day after Dalai Lama said he was ‘‘surprised’’ by China’s claims over Tawang, minister of state for external affairs Shashi Tharoor said the Tibetan spiritual leader had gone to Arunachal Pradesh on his own and not at India’s behest. This was even as Beijing-based Global Times and government mouthpiece People’s Daily quoted Chinese analysts as saying that Dalai Lama’s visit to the region, which China calls southern Tibet, was orchestrated by India and that New Delhi had forgotten the lessons of 1962. ‘‘This suggestion has not come from us, because we do not deal with the spiritual travels of a spiritual leader. He has to visit his flock as he deems fit. So I am sure that as far as I am aware the initiative would have come from him and the government would have been informed about it,” Tharoor told reporters. ‘‘Dalai Lama is free to travel anywhere in India and it is a matter of courtesy to inform his coordinates to the government before he goes somewhere,’’ he added. People’s Daily quoted Hu Shisheng, a researcher at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, as saying that Dalai Lama went to ‘‘southern Tibet’’ at this critical moment probably because of pressure from India. ‘‘By doing so, he can please the country that has hosted him for years,’’ he said. In another report in Global Times, Hu said India had forgotten 1962. ‘‘India may have forgotten the lesson of 1962, when its repeated provocation resulted in military clashes. India is on this wrong track again... When the conflict gets sharper and sharper, the Chinese government will have to face it and solve it in a way India has designed,’’ he said. On the visa issue with China, Tharoor said India had been “very generous” by giving over “58,000 business visas” to the Chinese. “As far as our basic policy is concerned, we would certainly be hesitant to offer employment to a foreigner for a job which could be done by an Indian in India,” said Tharoor.
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