Dharamshala — Members of the Tibet Advocacy Alliance-India, launched their advocacy for Tibet, in New Delhi on Monday, during the budget session of the Indian Parliament. The Tibetan NGO members urge Indian MPs urge India to recognise Tibet as an occupied country, which historically has been the border between India and Tibet, not between India and China.
The members of Tibet Advocacy Alliance - India includes Sonam Tsering from the Tibetan Youth Congress (TYC), Geden Tsepphel from the National Democratic Party of Tibet (NDPT)and Tenzin Lekden from Students for a Free Tibet-India (SFT), Dr Lobsang Yangtso from the International Tibet Network (ITN) and Tenzin Nyima from the Tibetan Women's Association (TWA).
The Tibet Advocacy Alliance-India began its 10 days of lobbying for Tibet in New Delhi on March 17, 2025. They scheduled to advocate for Tibet from March 17 to 27, 2025. They met with the following prominent parliamentarians on their first day of advocacy: Shri Premachandran N.K (RSP) MP from Kerala, Shri. Parshottambhai Rupala, (BJP), MP from Gujarat, Shri. Ganesh Singh, (BJP), MP from Madhya Pradesh, Shri. Suresh Kumar Kashyab (BJP), MP from Himachal Pradesh, Shri Deepender Singh Hooda, (INC) MP from Haryana, Shri. Mohmad Haneefa, (IND.), MP from Ladakh, Thiru Vijayakumar Vasanth (INC) , MP from Tamil Nadu, Shri Shanta Kumar Sharma, former Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh and Dr. Rajeev Bharadwaj, (BJP) MP from Himachal Pradesh.
During their visit to the MPs, they made five-points appeals, urging India to recognise Tibet as an occupied country, which historically has been the border between India and Tibet, not between India and China. They asked parliamentarians to raise the issue of Tibet, in particular the systematic eradication of Tibetan language, Buddhism and culture by the Chinese government, including the forced placement of at least one million Tibetan children in Chinese colonial-style boarding schools, where only Chinese language, culture and ideologies are taught.
They also asked India and MPs to recognise the contribution of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to the revival and preservation of Indian traditional knowledge, as His Holiness the Dalai Lama celebrates his 90th birthday this year, and urged them to support events or activities that celebrate His Holiness the Dalai Lama's birthday this year, July 6, 2025. Additionally, they urged for a statement supporting the decision of the Tibetan people and Buddhists to choose the reincarnation of the next Dalai Lama.
Sonam Tsering, General Secretary of TYC and a member of the Tibet Advocacy Alliance – India, told TPI: “We met eight MPs on the first day of our lobby for Tibet, four of whom we had already met and four of whom we had not met before. We were able to explain Tibet to them, the critical situation in Tibet and urge them to raise the Tibet issue in Parliament.”
"So far, the lobby has been very successful, we were able to make MPs aware of the situation in Tibet, many of them have knowledge about Tibet and they have shown their interest and support for the issue of Tibet,” he added.
He said, “The aim of this advocacy is to get the Indian Parliament to support Tibet by visiting MPs and requesting them to raise the Tibet issue in Parliament, discuss the Tibet issue in Parliament.”
