Dalai Lama ‘unfairly labelled’ over tongue video – Tibet govt-in-exile

On Thursday, the head of Tibet’s government-in-exile justified the Dalai Lama’s request to suck a boy’s tongue, saying it showed his innocence and devotion.

After a public event video went viral, showing the Nobel peace winner kissing the youngster, he apologized. Social media users called his behavior abuse.

The Sikyong of the exiled Central Tibetan Administration, Penpa Tsering, claimed the Dalai Lama had been “unfairly labelled with all kinds of names that really hurt the sentiment of all his followers”.

Tsering told reporters in New Delhi that the camera had misread the 87-year-old’s “innocent grandfatherly affectionate demeanour” and that the Dalai Lama had gone “beyond the sensorial pleasures” through celibacy and spiritual practice.

The February video, posted on Twitter this month, had over one million views.

“Pro-Chinese sources” spread it, Tsering said, adding that “the political angle of this incident cannot be ignored.”

The Chinese embassy in New Delhi was unreachable.

After the 1959 Tibetan rebellion failed, the Dalai Lama escaped to India. China’s military seized over in 1951.

He has spent decades garnering international support for linguistic and cultural autonomy in his isolated, mountainous birthplace between India and China.

Beijing accuses him of fomenting separatism and doesn’t recognize Tibet’s government-in-exile, which represents 100,000 Tibetans in 30 countries.