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China criticises Dalai Lama for watching IPL match

By Saibal Dasgupta | TNN

The Dalai Lama with Chennai Super King squad at the Dharamshala Cricket Stadium on 18 April 2010. MS Dhoni, the captain of the team, is standing on the left.File photo/IPL website

The Tibetan provincial government has objected to the Dalai Lama watching an Indian Premier League (IPL) match. “The religious leader was trying to prove to be a worthy son of India by participating in the country’s favourite pastime,” it said in an article published in the Communist Party organ, People’s Daily.

“Cricket is one of the most popular sports in India and the Dalai Lama of course has to have fun with his ‘dad’ since he wants to be a son of India,” the article said quoting news reports that the Tibetan leader had watched an IPL match at Dharamshala on 18 April at the invitation of the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association.

Quoting reports, it taunted the Tibetan leader for having said that “he was a son of India”, and asked how the “son of a foreign country” could speak about China’s internal issue concerning Tibet. The article also put a poser for India asking if it was ready to accept the Dalai Lama as a son. “When all comes to all, it rests with the ‘father’.

So far, the writer hasn’t read any reports showing that India or Dharamshala expresses any willingness to accept such a son,” the article said.

Copyright © 2010 Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd.

Published in The Times of India