Till Losar 2007, Tibet was just moving on margins in politically vibrant campus of Aligarh Muslim University. But with the visit of Tibetan writer and activist Tenzin Tsundue in AMU, a new history was written. An issue creeping on margins became mainstream suddenly. Taboo attached with the issue of Tibet was removed.
Myths about Tibet: “Tibet is only Buddhism. The Tibetan movement is a fight against China, which is a brotherly communist country. Tibet has CIA links. Tibet is supported by the capitalist America.”
These are the myths and misconceptions about Tibet because of which the leftists in India keep reservations in supporting the Tibetan issue. And leftists in AMU are also no way different from rest of the Indian lefty lot. In spite of discomfort of AMU’s left with the cause of Tibet, student activism on Tibet in AMU was started in Jan 2005 with the establishment of Friends of Tibet-Aligarh chapter.
Friends of Tibet- Aligarh Muslim university chapter organized first ever public talk on Tibet by Tibetan writer, poet & activist in the Administrative Block of AMU. The day of program, 18 Feb which happened to be the Tibetan New Year LOSAR, Mr Tsundue delivered a talk on the topic “Nonviolence & Resistance: Experiences from Tibet in Exile”. This was followed by an interactive session, which saw the students fielding a lot of interesting questions to Mr.Tsundue.
Registrar of the University Dr. Faizan Mustafa, Friends of Tibet Campaigner Anant Asthana , Secretary AMU Students Union Sulaiman Mohd. Khan, Cabinet member of AMU Student union Ali Reja Osmani, Court Member from Faculty of Law Ali Mohammed Maaz, FOT Aligarh Coordinators Satyajit Sahoo, Binod Kumar and several other student leaders, media personalities and a host students attended the event.
Mr. Tsundue besides highlighting the illegality and immorality of the Chinese occupation of Tibet also dwelt in length on the environmental concerns stemming out of the reckless Chinese plundering of the environment in Tibet. He also explained the nature of the Tibetan struggle and of the Human Rights abuses occurring in Tibet and other occupied territories of China. “Tibet should be an issue of entire humanity,” said Tsundue, “all these issues of Human Rights, justice, environmental destruction in Tibet, global warming, river control, military build-up in Tibet, Tibet is an issue nobody can avoid to take up.” Responding to a specific question, he shared his experiences of as an activist.
Tsundue along with various students, FOT members and newly won Tibet supporters visited various places in AMU. In Late evening Tsundue attended FOT Aligarh Chapter’s meet.
This was for the first time in AMU’s history that a public discussion on Tibet took place in AMU, though His Holiness the Dalai Lama had previously visited Aligarh Muslim University. AMU’s Central Library has a reading room inaugurated by the Tibetan leader, commonly called as Dalai Lama Hall. AMU was the education destination of a senior Tibetan government official Mr Yusuf Nayak. Few Tibetan Students have been enrolled in Commerce Faculty of AMU till few years back.
FOT Aligarh is a chapter of Friends of Tibet, Global movement for an Independent Tibet India, and some law students in AMU are running it. Like other chapters of FOT it has been hosting small talks on Tibet, panel discussions, films screening, poster campaigns etc, basically to create awareness about Tibet.
FOT Aligarh is presently working on a plan to organize an educational trip to Dharamsala for a three-day workshop on Tibet. Indian students from AMU will come to Dharamsala, and there they will visit important places and meet social workers, recent escapees from Tibet, political activists and officials of Tibetan Government in Exile. They will also see the functioning of Government in Exile. A Tibet Study Circle has been created and has been functioning as a library lending books to interested readers.
From Aligarh, Mr Tenzin Tsundue traveled with FOT Campaigner Anant Kumar Asthana to Kanpur, an important city in the history of the Indian freedom struggle. Here, Tsundue addressed an assembly of around 200 students from the prestigious Jugul Devi Saraswati Vidya Mandir, an intermediate college. Delivering his first ever talk in Hindi, Tsundue not only educated the Indian students about Tibet and its culture, but also won hearts of the kids by his playful speech in Hindi. Later students crowded around him to shake his hands and get Tibet leaflets autographed by him.
Report by Anant Kumar Asthana, Friends of Tibet, Aligarh (AMU)
