Last Updated: December 29, 2022, 19:42 IST
Police also issued a sketch of Song Xiaolan besides sharing her passport and visa details with the press. (Image: special arrangement)
Security was beefed up in Bodh Gaya following a threat to Dalai Lama allegedly from a Chinese woman
Bihar Police on Thursday detained a Chinese woman, who is suspected of “spying” on Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama, in Bodh Gaya. The 87-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner arrived in Bodh Gaya on December 22 and is expected to be here till February 1.
Confirming to news agency ANI, ADG (headquarters) JS Gangwar said the woman identified as Song Xiaolan is being interrogated about her stay in India.
Security was beefed up in Bodh Gaya following a threat to Dalai Lama allegedly from a Chinese woman. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Thursday called it “a security issue” and refused to comment further on it.
“It looks like a security issue, I don’t have any update on it. I certainly don’t think this is the right forum to talk about security-related aspects,” MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said at the weekly briefing. He said the government has a liaison officer there, but refused to make any further comments on the “security issue”.
Police had issued a sketch of the woman besides sharing her passport and visa details with the press.
Bihar | Security agencies searching for a Chinese woman in Gaya, suspected of spying on Dalai Lama, the sketch of the woman released.These days Dalai Lama is travelling in Bodh Gaya, Bihar. pic.twitter.com/xj7gvUTYPO
— ANI (@ANI) December 29, 2022
Security has been beefed up around the Mahabodhi Temple Complex with the screening of devotees being intensified. The Dalai Lama addressed a gathering there in the morning.
Dalai Lama in Bodh Gaya
On Thursday, Bodh Gaya came alive with the presence of the Dalai Lama who began his public discourses in the tiny, but world-renowned pilgrim town in Bihar, an annual affair that had been suspended for the past couple of years because of the pandemic.
The Kalchakra Maidan, where the spiritual leader will offer his discourses for the next couple of days, followed by a long life offering ceremony on New Year’s Day when lamas will pray for the longevity of the nonagenarian, was jampacked with devotees of all hues, unfazed by the threat of a resurgence of coronavirus.
The Dalai Lama, who has been putting up at the Tibetan monastery since his arrival in Bodh Gaya on December 22, reached the venue in a battery-operated vehicle as the audience sat in rapt attention, taking in the solemn prayers blaring through loudspeakers.
The charismatic religious leader, who counts among his followers many celebrities, walked with shuffled steps and with a noticeable slouch in his posture though his famous broad smile was evidently unaffected by the age-induced fragility.
The Kalchakra Maidan was rocked by a low-intensity blast a few years ago, carried out by a Bangladesh-based outfit that sought to avenge atrocities on Rohingyas in Myanmar by targeting the congregation here which attracts many pilgrims and lay devotees from the neighbouring country.
The administration was in a tizzy over “preliminary reports” of the presence of a “Chinese national”, a woman, in the pilgrim town, triggering concerns of the safety of the Tibetan leader.
About The Dalai Lama
After a failed anti-Chinese uprising in 1959, the 14th Dalai Lama fled Tibet and came to India where he set up a government-in-exile.
The Chinese government officials and the Dalai Lama or his representatives have not met in formal negotiations since 2010.
Beijing has in the past accused the Dalai Lama of indulging in “separatist” activities and trying to split Tibet and considers him as a divisive figure.
However, the Tibetan spiritual leader has insisted that he is not seeking independence but “genuine autonomy for all Tibetans living in the three traditional provinces of Tibet” under the “Middle-Way approach”.
(with inputs from PTI)
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