Tibet (New Delhi, August 1959) ATAL BIHARI VAJPAYEE (1924–)

Tibet (New Delhi, August 1959)
ATAL BIHARI VAJPAYEE (1924–)

In 1959, the Dalai Lama fled from Tibet into India. He was given a very
popular welcome by sections of the Indian people much to the resentment
of the Chinese government. ere had always been support for Tibetan
independence in India led by Jayaprakash Narayan and the Jan Sangh.
Vajpayee, then only thirty-five, was winning his spurs in the Lok Sabha as a
Jan Sangh MP and he spoke with passion on Tibet. is is a rare, early
(translated) speech made by Vajpayee who was emerging as an
extraordinarily dramatic orator. He usually spoke in Hindi and sadly much
of his speeches lose their power in translation.

MAIN SPEECH

Sir, I beg to move:

‘is House is of opinion that government should refer the Tibetan issue to

the United Nations.’

Sir, the General Assembly of the United Nations is going to meet from 15

September 1959. e Government of India has decided to raise the

question of China’s admission into the United Nations. By this resolution, I

want this House to recommend to the government that the Tibetan issue

should also be raised in the United Nations.

India has been a strong champion of the United Nations, and that is the

only ray of hope in the world threatened with nuclear wars. We have all

along maintained that international conflicts should be settled by sitting

round the table, the use of force should not be resorted to and that all

disputes should be settled by negotiation. We have adopted an independent

policy in the international sphere away from the warring groups because we

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think that it is the only correct policy not only in the best interests of our

nation but also in the interests of world peace. By this policy, India has

achieved a certain stature. We command respect. e peoples of the world

look to our Prime Minister when they are in distress not because we have

armaments, but because we try to adopt a policy based on moral

considerations in the international sphere. is moral force which India has

come to possess, demands that whenever there is any aggression we should

support the just cause; and in the past, when the independence of any

nation was threatened, India did not keep quiet. We also supported the

right and the just cause without being afraid of any power.

You are aware that the question of Tibet was raised in the United Nations

in 1950 when the armies of China marched into that country. On 25

October 1950 the Chinese army entered Tibet and on 7 November 1950

the leaders of Tibet sent a complaint to the United Nations against the

Chinese aggression. On 18 November 1950 the representative of El

Salvador moved the United Nations formally and asked the General

Assembly to create a special committee to study what measures should be

adopted by the United Nations General Assembly to assist Tibet against

the unprovoked Chinese aggression. But when the Steering Committee of

the United Nations met, the Indian representatives asked the committee to

drop the whole matter and gave the assurance that the Chinese forces that

were advancing had stopped and that the committee need not go into this

matter.

e Government of India wanted that China and Tibet should settle the

issue by peaceful negotiations and our Prime Minister advised the Dalai

Lama to come to an agreement with Communist China, in view of the

assurances given by the Prime Minister of China, who visited India during

those days. As a result of our assurances, the Dalai Lama came to an

agreement, the seventeen-point agreement, with China.

I need not go into history now. What has happened in Tibet is clear. It is

clear that the Sino-Tibetan agreement of 1951 has been violated. e Dalai

Lama has been forced to leave his country and to seek refuge in India. With

him, thousands of Tibetans have come to our country. Even then, the

Government of India wanted the situation to calm down in the hope that

wisdom will prevail and a satisfactory solution of the Tibetan problem will

be found out.

Wh h T b f l ll h l f f d d

What is happening in Tibet is very painful to all the lovers of freedom and

to all those who believe in human dignity. ey are aghast at the fate of the

Tibetans. Now, it is not a question of Tibetan independence or autonomy.

But the question is whether Tibet will remain as an entity, whether Tibet’s

distinct personality will survive or the Tibetan people will be annihilated.

We are aware, and the Dalai Lama has confirmed, that a large number of

Chinese are being settled in Tibet. Five million have already been settled

and four million are in the process of being settled. Besides this, there are a

large number of army officials.

e whole aim of China is to reduce the Tibetans to a minority in their

own country and thus to destroy the Tibetan personality. It is a new

phenomenon; it is a new type of imperialism. Except in South Africa, the

Western countries, I mean the imperialists, subjugated other races, but they

never tried to outnumber them in their own country so as to wipe them out

completely from the map of the world. France has subjugated Algeria, but

the Government of France respects the distinct personality of Algeria. But

it appears that the people of Tibet will have to go the way of Inner

Mongolia. Outer Mongolia, though not truly independent, has something

of its own, but Inner Mongolia has been annexed and it has ceased to exist

as a separate entity. at is happening in Tibet. e Human Rights

Charter, to which Communist China is party—because the charter of

human rights was approved at the Bandung Conference of Afro-Asians

attended by China—these human rights are being violated in Tibet.

According to the International Commission of Jurists, the people of Tibet

had been denied, and are still being denied, the right to liberty, life and

security. Forced labour has been inflicted on the Tibetans; tortuous, cruel

and degrading treatment is being inflicted on them; rights of homes and

privacy have been violated; freedom of movement within the state and the

right to leave and to return to Tibet have been denied; marriages have been

forced upon unwilling parties; property rights have been arbitrarily violated

and freedom of religion and worship have been systematically denied. If

human rights are to be violated in this manner, and by a nation which is

seeking admission to the United Nations, the world, and especially our

country, cannot and should not remain a silent spectator.

In addition to the violation of human rights, the International Commission

of Jurists has come to the conclusion, and they have evidence to show,

prima facie case of a systematic intention to destroy in whole or in part

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Tibet as a separate nation and to put an end to Tibetan interest. A prima

facie case of genocide according to the convention of 1948 has also been

made out by the commission. I need not go into these charges. Unless a

commission of independent countries can go into Tibet and find out for

themselves what is happening, nothing can be said. In addition to this, the

Dalai Lama has stated that during this upsurge sixty-five thousand people

have perished and the people of Tibet have been denied freedom to frame

their future according to their own ideas and conceptions.

Now the question is raised that since China is not a member of the United

Nations, no useful purpose will be served by referring this question to that

august body. May I submit that India joined the nations who branded

North Korea as an aggressor though North Korea was not a member of the

United Nations. We did not say at that time that since North Korea is not

in the United Nations we are not going to join in condemning North Korea

as an aggressor. We want that China should be admitted to the United

Nations because we have faith in the United Nations and we think that

whatever the form of government the people of China may have, since the

Government of China is the actual government and is actually in possession

of the administration of that country, China should be admitted to the

United Nations. But everything does not depend on us. China is not there.

But it does not mean that we should not refer the Tibetan issue to the

United Nations.

Another point made out is that if the Tibetan issue is referred to the United

Nations it might intensify the cold war. When the Anglo-French invasion

of Egypt took place the whole world joined in denouncing that aggression

and no country including ours, raised the apprehension or the fear that no,

the Anglo-French aggression should not be denounced because it will

become a part of the cold war. e Tibetan issue has nothing to do with the

cold war. It is a question of the fight of man. It is a question whether

smaller nations can rest in this world or not, or will they have to lose their

entity, will they have to be wiped out. India has a moral duty to the people

of Tibet. We have a moral responsibility. Apart from the considerations of

India’s security, with our age-old relations with Tibet, how can India remain

silent when before our own eyes a nation, the personality of the people of

Tibet, is being destroyed?

S I d d f h h U d N

Suppose, India does not refer the question to the United Nations; some

other country may raise it. I would like to know what will be our policy in

that case. We cannot prevent other nations from raising that issue. What

shall be the policy of our government? All our attempts for a peaceful

solution of the Tibetan tangle have failed. In spite of the best wishes of our

Prime Minister, the Chinese communist leaders are not prepared to heed to

the voices of wisdom, reason and justice. On the contrary, they are branding

India as imperialist and also the Indian people. India relinquished its

extraterritorial rights that accrued to us from the British. e other day, our

Prime Minister objected to the boundary line between India and China

being called as the MacMahon line: actually objected; he said, he disliked, I

think because the very name MacMahon smacks of British imperialism. As

Shakespeare has remarked, there is nothing in a name. But, it showed how

deep our feelings are against imperialism. But then, the Chinese

communists are branding us as imperialists.

Propaganda against India, against the people of India, has been let loose by

China. According to a journalist, he has estimated that in seven days from

20 to 30 April, China, through its official newspapers, news agencies and

radio, has published, distributed and broadcast seventy-seven articles,

commentaries and editorials, totalling more than forty thousand words,

condemning India in the most unrestrained language imaginable. Indians in

Tibet are being· harassed. Police are still posted in front of our mission in

Lhasa. Indian currency has been declared illegal. Cartographic aggression

including thirty thousand square miles of territory of India is still there.

Our protest notes are not even replied to. Do we think that in the present

circumstances China can be induced to accept the just demands of the

Tibetan people? e Dalai Lama has clearly stated that he and his fellows

are not against social or economic reforms in Tibet. But now that stage has

passed and I do not think there is any other course left for India but to

mobilize world opinion against the Chinese aggression of Tibet. Even

though China is not a member of the United Nations, if the Government of

India takes that issue to the United Nations and we are in a position to

mobilize world opinion in favour of the Tibetan people, I am sure

something good will come out of it. As a nation that has faith in the United

Nations, that is the only course left open for us.

When the Government of India has decided to raise the issue of China’s

recognition and admission into the United Nations, in spite of all that is

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being done and said against India by the Chinese communists, I think it is

but proper that the Tibetan issue should also be raised by our government

in the forthcoming meeting of the General Assembly of the United

Nations. e government will have the benefit of knowing the wishes of the

House in this matter, and I am sure my resolution will get wide support,

and the government will accept it and will discharge the moral duty to the

people of Tibet as a free nation.

With these words, I move the resolution.