Is India left with no options?
April 20, 2008 by gopalkoduri
Now it’s known to everyone.. Tibet and China issue. Briefly the issue can be summarised as follows. China thinks, Tibet has been a part of China since a long time and it adds that it will continue to be so. There would not have been much problem if Tibetians are seen as their own citizens or atleast friendly neighbourhood. But, Tibetians, with the kind of treatment offered by Chinese govt, are offended. They say that their culture and values are not at all given any importance. For example, pubs and nude dances are not a part of Tibetian monks. But they happen there, day in and day out. Things like this accumulated and finally they broke out! This is not the first time that Tibetians revolted. There were many such incidents in the past. China with some kind of ‘we’ll-help-you-develop’ reason, suppressed the revolutions. These days china has blocked over 160 or so websites saying they are threat to national integrity and security! Now, the whole world started thinking about the issue, as it was raised at correct point of time, Olympics! Germany and U.K have almost supported Dalailama by giving hints that there is a chance of withdrawing participation from Beijing Olympics. U.S as usually is still trying to maintain its power in the best possible way.
But, than those far off countries, aren’t we, the neighbour to both the groups, important? Obviously yes. But why is India not taking a stand in support of Tibet, even if it knows that’s what is the correct decision to be taken? The reasons are disheartening for an Indian..
- China is evolving as a new huge economical, political, military front in the east.
- In the past, when we had a war with China, the dragons have occupied very vast portion of our nation across the border.
- There are already two bordering nations, Pakistan and Bangladesh which are anytime ready to go with China, if we go against it.
So, India is helpless from the beginning when it comes to dealing with china, from Nehru to Manmohan. Let’s wait and see if dragons ever think that atleast they need democracy in their own state!
yeah….India is pretty much worried to go against china and Indian politicians’ time is spent on planning to increase their vote bank and they dont really care such issues….
but on a lighter note….. no one will care if India opts out of olympics as we are not going to win medals (may b a bronze or silver in 1 r 2 event but who cares…!)
was thinking to post on this issue but decided to do some study of the situation but u did it..
nice post and hoping to see more such posts that talk abt current issues and gud issues like health etc….
Listen guys, going against china has got nothing to do with Vote Bank. If they go then they have much better chance to get the votes. It’s an easy way to divert the current problem which are inflation and unemployment. Also note that we are not impulsive jihadis who do not think anything and take the action.
You need to understand the higher level politics. Let’s consider a scenario when India goes in “active” support of Tibet and goes against china. These are the possible results.
1) China boycotts Indian products, India boycotts Chinese products. They will suffer and we will suffer. What are Indian exports mostly raw-materials and agricultural products and what are Chinese exports all electronics items on which our IT companies are dependent. Development will not happen and the poor will suffer. They will not suffer this huge.
2) In politics, to make sure that goals are achieved even in negative circumstances creating confusion and diversion of attention are two common weapons. If India jumps in they will make us as the key culprit and we will become the undisputed leader of all the countries who want to boycott China. We will suffer, Tibetians will suffer (as their genuine cause is unheard) and Chinese will suffer because we have vibrant politicians as well :D.
3) If war breaks out, US and Europe will come in complete support with us but will not let their troops fight with Chinese though they will sell the ammunition to us and do the business. We all know that Pakistan will try to snatch Kashmir from us. If Kashmir is lost then we are doomed forever as this is the most strategic location in whole Asia. Though we can thrash Pakistan into pieces but we cant fight with Chinese. The amount of damage that will occur will take at least 15 years to recover for all of us.
Possible gains:
1) Votes
2) Technological developments
3) Nationalism
If Tibetians want to get the independence then they have to fight on their own we can only sympathize their cause nothing more and as well accept them as permanent Indian citizens. Independence gained without any cost has no value at all as they will be unable to find the leaders to sustain. India in the meantime should try to focus on increasing her power, developing great leaders of the stature of Mahatma Gandhi and uplifting people from poverty.
Government can not have any role in going against China. Let people of our country do this. If they can successfully boycott Chinese products on which we are totally dependent then governments can go ahead. Moreover there are many countries in the line who are willing to go against China and they can do it successfully. Let them take the leadership, we can happily join them anyday.
Instead of pointing fingers to China we must do economic reforms and do something so that we don’t have to see these days again. We should develop ourselves to an extent that whatever we say should have a great weight.
Moreover, stop rambling what media rambles.
@Anonymous..
Good analysis and totally agreed. Thanks for bringing out and letting us know the issues.
FYI, this post is based on a lecture by Tibetian Monks in Chinese University, Economic Times(http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/ET_Debates/A_tougher_stand_by_India_on_Tibet/articleshow/2885987.cms) and ofcourse, newspapers.
@anony….
i think you didnt understand my post….. i didnt mean that India’s stand on this issue will affer its vote bank it may or may not but thats not the point i was talking. I was just mentioning that Indian politicians give importance to the issues that will increase their vote bank rather than these issues which are quite important to be addressed.
well these are my views and i might be wrong. Moreover i dont know whats going on media….
The Chinese have been working very hard over the last couple of years to make the Olympics a grand success
It would be simply gr8 to watch all those preparations go to waste
C’mon Tibetans!!!
You can do it
this raises a larger question in my mind. how is a country defined? how would u decide which part of earth will fall under which country? i have no answers to this question. im looking for one. i believe we have answer to this question we will never be sure what stand to take. chinese have some reasons for which they call tibet a part of them. tibetans have some other reasons to not be a part of china. how will a third party like us decide whose reasons are more important and genuine??
is pakistan a part of india? is kashmir a part of india? what about bangladesh, north east srilanka?? how do we define india or bharat??
@Harsh,
to decide whose reasons are genuine, couldn’t we look at the present condition of Tibet? To add few more points, the land of Tibet is full of Minerals and that’s what attracted those dragons. They are no different to Tibet, from what British are to us 200 years ago. They are digging off every precious piece on the land, including their culture and heritage. When one would like to be respected, the same should be paid off, right? Then keeping these points in mind, couldn’t we, atleast for sake of our moral sense, support Tibetians? Again, considering other points, India presently is not in a position to do so, agreed.
Coming to your question on how a country is defined, I only could say it’s largely by their ideologies, cultural habits, food, languages etc.
@gopalkoduri
im not taking a position whether or whether not to support the tibetans. im just wondering whether we have our parameters well defined? whether we have given a thought on the concept of a nation? the parameters u mentioned above wont fit into the concept of india. how would u define india??
@ Anonymous -….gud but y? anonymous
neways i bet china is gonna fall very soon ne takers?
@Harsh,
I’m sorry but I think I dint get you right, Is it on political ground or philosophical ground you are asking the parameters for defining India. The above reasons form political boundaries of any country to some extent.. there may be other reasons too, which I’m unaware of. If I say I’m an Indian, to a great extent, I’m referring to the fact that I love living in this (Indian)society as I’m most accustomed to it and my way of living is well supported here. But if it is on philosophical ground, I’m clueless on what to answer.. because even if I say something, it will obviously differ from atleast 80% opinions of our nation
@gopalkoduri
political boundaries dont mean much to me. more than anyone else im asking this question to myself. what is india? how would we define tibet?
I have the same doubt as harsh does.. how do we define the boundaries of a nation/state etc.. do we need a separate tibet, or do we need a separate telangana, are purely personal.. how would it look if maharashtra interferes in telangana issue.. it’s our state’s issue.. i would treat, and expect our country to treat the tibet issue the same way.. tibetan leaders putforth their ideas in their addressings and you clearly said the courtesy was the same.. just like kcr’s meetings.. you should’ve done a deeper research on the issue, if you ask me, and discussions as sensitive as this shouldn’t go on as far as commenting on the nation’s policies with having done such a small deal of study work..
cheers,
prudhvi
Ah! comparing something like Tibetian movement with Telangana Movement. lolz at this man. Telangana Movement, in my opinion, is a major political drama, even if kcr gets it, it’s just not with right intention! How can Tibet, fighting for it’s basic living rights, be compared to this?? Think deep.. if interference is what you don’t need, there exists no more bonds between communities, I doubt even the existence of a community, in the first place..
Telangana people aren’t seen/treated separate, they are just US! they are Andhra people. I donno if you feel Telangana people are being treated so badly. Can you give any comparisons between Telangana ‘Movement’ and Tibet Revolution at people level??
Tibet people are screaming around the countries that they need some kind of independence in their land.. Do you find Telangana people, atleast in our tech-savvy sector, even rising the issue in his/her place??
that’s what I am saying bro.. what you thought of a state.. chinese might be feeling the same about tibet.. dontcha think so..
ok.. then let’s talk about our own khalisthan movement.. a prime minister of our country has been killed by that extremist movement.. LTTE, where we again lost a prime minister.. do we need to support all those?? sovereignty of a country, though a neighbor should be respected by all means.. that’s all I gotta say.. and please please reading an article doesn’t give a person the right to comment on the policies of a nation.. please read more or please don’t you comment on things like this..
and atlast as for me, I think this tibetan issue is just being shown through a magnifying glass by the western capitalist media.. and people like us, who have no other option but to know things through them are being blinded.. think.. you seriously cannot call this a discussion without the views being taken from both the sides..
khalistan movement began with language problems by punjab sikhs, when hindi was declared the national language, which later was intensified to religion riots, when operation of blue star took place. It’s origins have nothing to do with HUMAN RIGHTS, right?
coming to LTTE, and ofcourse the previous one too, I’m NOT insisting on splitting every land into pieces or I’m not supporting those violent acts. If the people are not undermined and looked down upon, why should we support their cause? correct me if I got those two movements wrong. but that’s what I knew of them.
But here, the issue is with HUMAN RIGHTS. I’m not being carried away by western media. All my major references are direct speeches of Dalailama and his/Tibet’s history. Finally I’m living in a democratic country which gives me total freedom to discuss the issues and know them better, if I’m not having correct views upon them.. thanks for responding.
well, most of us like to support underdogs (when viewing as a neutral) and this is precisely what’s happening in regard to the dispute b/w China and Tibet.
India too would have gone in support of Tibet had the Indian Govt. not been so intimidated by their Chinese counterparts
In their quest to support Tibet, the media is cooking up something about human violations.
The media could have so easily done the opposite thing by bringing out the advantages associated with being a part of a booming Chinese economy.