As a historic 3 feet snowfall enveloped Mcleod Square in Dharamsala this week, a lone makeshift structure tout erect in defiance with the slumped snow-white vicinity. The well-known structure proudly sheltered the Tibetan activists participating in the Two Month Relay Hunger Strike, organized by Tibetan Youth Congress for the release of Tulku Tenzin Delek.
The last lag of the ongoing Strike saw scores of passionate volunteers from Norbulingka Institution, TCV Gopalpur and Gyutoe Monastery and two Tibetan Parliament members; Karma Yeshi and Doctor Thokmey, as the severe cold wave swept across the Dhauladhar Range confining indoor one and all.
“Come rain or Come snow, we are undeterred. Each slide in mercury only firm up our resolve to fight for Tulku Tenzin Delek’s release” said Tenzin Dondup, from Norbulingka Institution.
The week strangely coincides with the completion of the participation by the entire Tibetans of Dharamsala in the Strike, and as if to acknowledge the accomplishment, Mother Nature blessed Dharamsala with the ceremonial scarfing of the majestic snowfall.
Speaking on his participation in the Strike, Mr Tsering Topgyal, Post Graduate Teacher, TCV Gopalpur said, “Campaign on Tulku Tenzin Delek should be taken as a basis for our concerted efforts to seek the release of other thousands of political prisoners in Tibet”.
Tibetan Parliament in Exile has always deemed the issue of Tibetan people’s right and interest as an issue obligating the contribution and dedication of entire Tibetans irrespective of their ideology and stands. And especially for the Tulku Tenzin Delek’s release, The Parliament has specifically conducted campaigns in New Delhi last December. However while the entire Tibetans of Dharamsala took active part in the TYC organized Two Month Hunger Strike, the Parliament’s sheer ignorance and sidelining of the same despite invitation for the participation, signify a gross lapse on the part of the people’s representative setting a wrong trend or precedence.
President Godrukpa Kalsang Phuntsok of Tibetan Youth Congress, while speaking to the media said, “ The failure of any response from the Tibetan Exile Parliament members to the Hunger Strike explains two things, from a broader perspective, it reveals that the members utterly lack political maturity and from the smaller perspective, it shows that they are mired in internal differences and feuds lacking mutual understanding, cooperation and the integrity to work for the greater cause. Our struggle will be severely bogged down if trivial issues and difference and passing exigencies are allowed to play hindrance to the major campaigns. And nowhere it is clearer than the conducts of the members during the recent Hunger Strike in Dharamsala.”
