Tibetan Spiritual Guru in exile Dalai lama apologised for his statement that the first Prime Minister of India Pt Jawaharlal Nehru was ‘self-centred’. “My statement has created a controversy. I apologise if I have said something wrong,” said the Dalai lama when he was asked to comment what he meant by calling Nehru ‘self-centred’. Addressing the media in Bengaluru on Friday on the sidelines of programme, Tibetan Guru wanted to put an end to this issue and said his intention was not to create any controversy.
Dalai lama said he felt pity when he heard that Mahatma Gandhi was opposed to the partition.”There are more Muslims in India than in Pakistan. But past is past,” the Dalai lama said. On Wednesday, the Dalai lama triggered a row during an interaction with students of Goa Institute of Management in Sankhalim. He said India and Pakistan would have remained united had Mahatma Gandhi’s wish of seeing Muhammad Ali Jinnah as the first Prime Minister of India come true. He went on to say that Jawaharlal Nehru’s “self-centred attitude” was the reason why it did not happen.
The Tibetan spiritual leader also thanked Nehru for sheltering thousands of exiled Tibetans after they fled from their motherland.”My statements (on Nehru) have created a controversy. I apologise if I said something wrong,” said the 83-year-old Nobel laureate. The Dalai lama, however, apologised for the remarks on Friday and thanked Nehru for supporting the Tibetans’ cause when thousands of them, including monks, fled their motherland after China annexed the mountain country in 1950.