Tibet in India: A people’s history of the Tibetan resistance.

In October 1950, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) of China crossed over into Tibet, overpowered the Tibetan forces, and captured the border town of Chamdo. The next year, Tibet was made to sign the Seventeen Point Agreement with China authorising the PLA presence and the Central People’s Government rule in Tibet. Five years later, a section of Tibetans rebelled, starting off a war that would last till 1973.

The history of the Tibetan armed resistance to Chinese occupation from 1957 to 1973 has been largely suppressed because it went against the Dalai Lama’s advocacy of non-violence. But it was an important movement where Tibetans trained themselves in military tactics and fought the Chinese incursion, helping the Dalai Lama escape safely from Tibet to India in 1959.

March is the month when Tibetan refugees in this town and elsewhere commemorate their national struggle against China’s military occupation of Tibet—a violent struggle culminated in the desperate Uprising of 1959 and the flight of the Dalai Lama to India.

The Indian government, led by then-Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, offered support and provided land in various parts of India to establish Tibetan settlements. The most well-known settlement is in Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh, where the Dalai Lama's official residence and the Central Tibetan Administration (also known as the Tibetan Government-in-Exile) are located. Dharamshala has become the de facto capital for the Tibetan diaspora in India.

Every year, Tibetan communities throughout India and elsewhere enact a variation of this ritual, which generally concludes with a procession through the closest town or city, where fierce slogans condemning Communist Chinese leaders from Mao to Xi Jinping have, through the years, been shouted, generally to the bemusement of Indian shopkeepers and passers-by.

The Indian government has generally been supportive of the Tibetan community, allowing them to maintain their distinct cultural and religious practices while not formally recognizing the Tibetan government-in-exile. However, India officially considers Tibet as a part of China and follows a policy of not allowing any anti-China political activities from its soil.