DHARAMSHALA, March 24: Rajeev Chandrasekhar, a member of parliamentarian, has written letters to both Rajya and Lok Sabhas requesting them to invite the Dalai Lama to address the houses.
In his letter dated on March 19 to Mohammad Hamid Amsari, Chairman of Rajya Sabha and Meira Kumar, Speaker of Lok Sabha, Chandrasekhar talks about India’s “moral responsibility” to the Tibetan people and the long-standing relationship between Tibet and India.
“Being the largest democracy, our Parliament is an institution that many other countries look up to. Therefore, I request that His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama be invited to address our Parliament, and thereby, also address the people of our nation,” he writes.
“This will go a long way in supporting and spreading His Holiness’ message of peace, tolerance and harmony for all the peoples of the world.”
In another letter addressed to Ananth Kumar, Chairman-Standing Committee on External Affairs requesting to invite Dr Lobsang Sangay, a democratically elected prime minister of the exile administration to depose before the Standing Committee on External Affairs.
Chandrasekhar further highlights that “the Tibetan youth turn to self-immolation in their bid to draw the attention of the international community towards their sufferings. The lack of freedom drives the Tibetan youth to take such drastic steps.”
Last week, Chandrasekhar sent a letter to the Prime Minister urging him to “support the cause of Tibetan freedom by issuing a strong statement in light of current human rights violation and crisis in Tibet and raise this issue with the Chinese President at the upcoming BRICS meeting on 26 and 27 March 2013, in Durban, South Africa.”
Similarly, Shri Yashwant Sinha, former Indian Foreign and Finance Minister, and the Convener, All Party Indian Parliamentary Forum for Tibet, pledged to ‘work to invite His Holiness the Dalai Lama to address the Indian Parliament in March this year.’
