The continued destruction of the natural resources, mindless expansion in the name of development and extensive militarization region, he said will only add to global climate worries.

Delivering Dr KR Narayanan Memorial Lecture on the theme ‘Democracy in Exile: The Case of Tibet’ at Jamia Millia Islamia on Monday, the Kalön Tripa (Head) of Tibetan Government in exile, Dr Lobsang Sangay questioned the so-called development agenda of the Chinese in Tibet at the expense of environment and ecology. “I would ask a very pertinent question at the very core of this development discourse: development for whom?” he said.

He said “socio-economic discrimination, political and cultural repression, and lack of freedom of speech and expression are the causes for the persistence of dissent in Tibet.”

The spate of self-immolations that had gripped Tibet since 2009. Around 89 people had immolated themselves so far.

Dr Sangay termed the situation in Tibet “grim and tragic”. He voiced amazement at the Chinese reaction that blames the Tibetan leaders in exile for these acts of protest. He suggested that a more appropriate approach would have been to ask “what is forcing the people to take such an extreme step in the first place”.

He, however, was optimistic that Tibet’s day of reckoning is not far. The desire to be free, to breathe the air of freedom is in the spirit of Tibetans

He attributed the success of the Tibetan democratic experiment in exile “to Indian values and traditions.”

“Tibet owed its religion to India and that it is owing to the proximity to India physically and spiritually that the Tibetan struggle has conformed to the tenets of ahimsa, dialogue and reconciliation,” Dr Sangay said.

He, however said that Tibetan democracy, above all, “owed itself to the vision of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.” It was on September 2, 1960 that the first Tibetan parliament had come into existence and in 1963 women found representation in electoral politics. In the same year, all members of the Tibetan parliament came to be directly elected by the people.

Dr Sangay mentioned that in an unprecedented move, the Dalai Lama even introduced a provision in the Constitution that allowed his impeachment by the Parliament. In 2000, further reforms made it possible to transfer all executive powers from the Dalai Lama to a political head. Taking the process forward to its logical conclusion, in 2011, the Dalai Lama fully devolved his responsibilities to the elected Tibetan leaders (Sikyong).

Dr. Sangay also shared his experience at campaigning for the current position which he recalls as being tumultuous. He calls himself a ‘default’ candidate and shared how his well wishers had even asked him to prepare an honourable exit strategy because they believed that there was no way he would win the elections. Nevertheless, he did contest and won in an unprecedented democratic election in 2011.

It must be mentioned that Dr. Sangay left the audience spellbound with his sense of duty and dedication when he spoke about how he gave up his rather lucrative career at Harvard to work for the Tibet cause even if it meant drawing a meagre salary and travelling second class.

In his introductory address the Vice-Chancellor, Jamia Millia Islamia, Najeeb Jung highlighted the case of Tibet as being that of ‘special and unique people’ being forced out of their homeland. In particular, he was highly appreciative of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and spoke of him as an evolved soul.