Kolkata:
Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama today said that some Chinese officials see him as a "demon".
In a move that could create fresh tension between the two countries, officials of the Chinese Consulate in Kolkata had approached the West Bengal government in an attempt to persuade the Governor and Chief Minister to stay away from a meeting the Dalai Lama was attending.
Governor M K Narayanan ignored the reservations expressed by China and attended the function to mark Mother Teresa's birth centenary as the chief guest. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who was to have been the guest of honour, however, skipped the function as she had to be with her mother who is ill.
The Dalai Lama said he was not surprised at the Chinese move.
"That's quite routine. From their point of view, that is quite logical. Some of the Chinese officials see me as a demon," he told NDTV.
This is not the first time that a public participation by the Dalai Lama in India has seen objections from the Chinese. India has, however, consistently maintained that he was a respected religious leader who was free to participate in spiritual gatherings and that in a democracy, he enjoyed the freedom of speech .
Last week, China had objected to his plans to address a Buddhist meet in Delhi.
China had protested, saying that his presence in Delhi would coincide with the border talks between the two countries, scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday this week. India refused to give in to the Chinese pressure and decided to call off the talks, saying it would be rescheduled for a later date.
The Dalai Lama attended the meet, the Global Buddhist Conference, on Wednesday but refused to speak about the controversy his presence at the function had generated.
Today, in Kolkata, he pointed out that he was no longer the leader of a political administration and that he had handed over this responsibility to an elected person in March. "So this... my visit here, I don't like politicised," he said.
"What do you expect me to do?" asked the Governor, trying to brush aside any controversy that the Chinese move may lead to.
On Tuesday, officials of the Chinese Consulate met the State Home Secretary with a letter expressing reservations about senior government officials attending the Dalai Lama's programme, particularly the Governor and the Chief Minister. The Chinese argued that the presence of either of the two would mean "government patronage".
The Home Secretary is believed to have told the Chinese official that the function had been cleared by the Ministry of External Affairs. It was a spiritual function and who would attend it was India's internal matter, the Chinese were told.