Don’t interfere in our internal matters: India tells China on Dalai Lama’s Arunachal visit

Rijiju said that India never interferes into the internal affairs of China and expects the same from Beijing also

By: News Desk |
April 4, 2017 12:58 pm

Amid China’s objection to Dalai Lama’s visit to Arunachal Pradesh, Union Minister Kiren Rijiju has said that the exiled Tibetan leader’s visit to Tawang is an internal matter which should not be given a political angle.

Asserting that India wants good relation with China , Rijiju said, “India never interferes into the internal affairs of China and We expect that China also should not interfere in our internal matter”. He also called Lama’s visit to Arunachal, a purely religious one and added that it should not be seen with a political eye.

Underscoring the need to give respect to religious sentiments of every community, he reiterated that India does not expect anybody to have problem on visit of the Dalai Lama to Arunachal Pradesh. This is the second rebuttal from the union home minister (state), earlier he had said that China should refrain from meddling in India’s internal affairs.

The Dalai Lama is set to visit Arunachal Pradesh between April 4 and 13. The Tibetan leader last visited the state in 2009 which was green-signalled by then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

China had on March 30 said that India allowing the Tibet’s exiled leader to visit Arunachal will cause “serious damage” to bilateral ties and had asked New Delhi to make a “choice”.