BBC NEWS | South Asia | Dalai Lama holds mass gathering
Page last updated at 09:55 GMT, Monday, 9 November 2009
Dalai Lama holds mass gathering
Tens of thousands of ethnic Tibetans have poured into the town of Tawang in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh to hear an address by the Dalai Lama.
The exiled Tibetan spiritual leader is currently on a week-long tour of Arunachal Pradesh - itself a source of dispute between Beijing and Delhi.
Beijing has accused the Dalai Lama of trying to undermine its rule in Tibet and says the visit is anti-China.
The Dalai Lama insists his visit is a spiritual lecture tour.
The Dalai Lama fled to India in 1959 when Chinese troops crushed an attempted uprising in Tibet.
In August this year, the Dalai Lama, 74, made another hugely controversial visit - to Taiwan, another region China considers part of its territory.
Thronging town
The BBC's Sanjoy Majumder in Tawang says tens of thousands of people began pouring into Tawang in the early hours of Monday morning to hear the Dalai Lama speak.
'China bashing' in the Indian media
Many had travelled for days to be there and some had come from neighbouring Bhutan, our correspondent says.
Banners and Buddhist prayer flags lined the streets.
"It made us very happy to catch a glimpse of him. Nobody is more important to us than him. The Dalai Lama is our god," Karmayacha, who travelled 20 miles to attend the meeting, told the Associated Press news agency.
People packed an open-air polo ground to hear the Dalai Lama's address.
"Compassion and peace are the two words that should be remembered by all," the Dalai Lama is quoted by the AFP news agency as saying when he opened his programme of religious teaching.
He also opened a hospital in the town, to which he had contributed 2m rupees ($40,000).
Influential monastery
Although it is a remote frontier town, Tawang has immense strategic value. Its 300-year-old monastery is one of the most influential outside of Tibet.
Many devotees travelled for days to see the Dalai Lama
It was at this monastery that the Dalai Lama sought refuge when he fled 50 years ago.
The Dalai Lama has made a number of visits to the town over the years since then.
"My visit to Tawang is non-political and aimed at promoting universal brotherhood and nothing else," the Dalai Lama said on Sunday.
Arunachal Pradesh's Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu said Beijing had "no right to interfere in India's internal matters".
etc etc
my comments ;
This is a BBC report dated today
as you can see China cant hide the fact from the world
foreign jpurnalists are not being kept out