Godless" China falls back on religion, which Mao Zedong had once called "poison" during a meeting with the (current) 14th
Dalai Lama, whenever it claims
Tawang
as its own.
Beijing
projects itself as the "motherland" of the Himalayan provinces that were under Tibetan rule or influence in the past. Using this logic, it calls Tawang "southern Tibet" for three basic reasons.
First, it was in Tawang that the 6th Dalai Lama, a Monpa, was born in the late 17th century. (Tawang is the home to Monpas, whom many recognize as part of the Tibetan race.)
Second, the majestic Galden Namgyal Lhatse Gonpha, more popular as Tawang monastery, was built in 1681 according to the wishes of the 5th Dalai Lama.
This gonpha belongs to the Gelugpa sect of Tibetan Buddhism and is supposed to be the second largest place of worship after Potala, the original seat of the Dalai Lama in Lhasa. The Dalai Lama, too, belongs to this sect.
Third, Beijing says before British India annexed Tawang, the Buddhist province was part of Tibet.
Situated 47km south of the McMahon Line, which runs between Tibet and India, Tawang town has more than 10,000 people, a sizeable number of whom are Nepalis, Biharis and Assamese. Compared to other eastern hill towns such as Darjeeling,
Gangtok
and Shillong, it is more integrated into the Indian mainstream and has adopted Hindi as its lingua franca.
Every time the Dalai Lama visits the Tawang monastery, he has been there four times in the past: 1983, 1997, 2003, and 2009, China resorts to "wounding of the monk with words", an exercise that began right after the Tibetan leader issued his first statement against the annexation of Tibet on reaching Tezpur (Assam) in 1959.
This visit, too, is no exception as far as China's reaction is concerned. For, no one in Tawang is likely to be swayed by such angry remarks against the most revered figure of Tibetan Buddhism.