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Alarmed at the construction of a number of monasteries by expatriate Tibetans in Siliguri and Jalpaiguri areas of north Bengal, the Union Home Ministry has alerted the state government to find out who were the people behind setting up of the monasteries.
About 15 monasteries have come up in this area and the government suspects a lot of foreign money is involved in this.
O Wednesday, Union Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta held a meeting with West Bengal home secretary Ardhendu Sen in Delhi to discuss the issue. Other senior officials of the state and Central government as well as officials of the intelligence agencies were present.
“It’s a very unusual thing that so many Tibetan monasteries are coming up there. We are probing who are the people behind this and who are funding them because we suspect a lot of foreign funds are involved in this,” a senior Home Department official told The Indian Express.
The Centre’s concern comes after the Chinese Consulate took up the issue. “I don’t want to say anything at this juncture. But I can say one thing. If the monasteries are being used for activities that are against the interests of China, we have problems. But if they are used only for religious activities, we have no problem,” an official from the Chinese Consulate in Kolkata said.
In August last year, Tibetan activists in Kolkata were not allowed to stage demonstration in protest against alleged Chinese excesses at Lhasa. “We are still not allowed to stage demonstrations against China. But so far as the monasteries in north Bengal are concerned, we do not know much about that. We don’t have interaction with those people,” Tenzing Palbar, an activist of Students for Free Tibet, based in Kolkata, said.
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Why the GOI should be alarmed at money coming from abroad. They should be happy. It's more money and jobs for India.Monasteries are openly build, and could be accessed by all anyway, unlike other covert centres. By the way, has GOI simplified the process to receive a certificate for Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (of 1976). It is a clearance for NGOs to receive donation from outside India.Just checking, not planning to build a monastery. :)