Sikkim border row: China accuses India of playing 'Dalai Lama card', but has it really?

It seems that New Delhi is in no mood to back down from Beijing amid the Sikkim border row. Even as the Sikkim border standoff between India and China continues and the Indian Army readies for the long haul, the Narendra Modi government on Wednesday allowed the Tibetan government in exile — on the eve of the Dalai Lama’s 82nd birthday — to perform rituals on the shores of Ladakh’s famed Pangong Lake along the disputed boundary with China and pray for the long life of their leader according to a report in The Economic Times. In an editorial published in the state-run Global Times on 9 July, Beijing warned New Delhi to refrain from playing the ‘Dalai Lama’ card: “When the Indian government attaches great importance to its relationship with China, it keeps a tight grip on anti-China political activities on its soil. Though China has long accepted the one-China policy, Delhi welcomed the Tibetan monk and set him up in Dharamshala, albeit forbidding him from indulging in any political activity.” The Firstpost article further points out that although the Dalai Lama recently visited Arunachal Pradesh, it wasn’t his first visit. China has suspended the annual Kailash Manasarovar yatra, claiming that this was due to the border standoff and alleging that the Indian troops had crossed the Sikkim section of the Indo-China border.