Chalo Delhi: Tibetan People's Movement
November 19, 2006 On Nov 19, one day before Chinese President Hu Jin Tao's arrival to New Delhi, demonstrators rallied at the capital's sanctioned protest square, Jantar Mantar. The protest rally, under the campaign name "Chalo Delhi", lasted three days and was organized by six Tibetan NGOs, the Tibetan Women's Association included. Many late nights of discussions and preparations followed once the six NGOs decided to work together to organize this protest.
People from many different Tibetan settlements in exile joined the demonstration to protest against the Chinese President's summit meeting with Indian Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh. From Dharamsala, Manali, Dehradun, and Delhi, protestors numbered up to a thousand. Those who could not come gave an outpour of financial and moral support.
The first day of the "Chalo Delhi" campaign began with all the protestors walking the Jantar Mantar street towards the barricade at the far end. At the barricade, the chanting stopped and everyone observed a one-minute silence in memory of the brave Tibetans in Tibet who died fighting for freedom. The singing of the Tibetan and Indian National Anthem followed. The next two days opened in similar fashion.
Three representatives of the campaign's organizing committee spoke on the first day, each in a different language (Tibetan, Hindi, and English) for the benefit of the diverse supporters. In the afternoon, spokespersons of Rashtrawadi Muslim Andolan, Minorities in India and Minorities Morcha addressed the crowds.
Shri Kiren Rijiju ji, Member of Parliament, Arunachal Pradesh, spoke on the second day after the morning procession. He expressed his resentment over China's outrageous claim over the whole of Arunachal Pradesh on baseless grounds.
The protest donned a new look on the afternoon of the second day with poetry reading, especially patriotic poems of freedom struggle in Tibetan, Hindi, and English. Four TIPA (Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts) students performed inspirational songs for the crowds. Names and stories behind current political prisoners were also highlighted. Gen. Ngawang Woebar la called attention to the plight of all political prisoners in Chinese-occupied Tibet and asked all the ex-political prisoners present to stand up to be acknowledged and field questions about their experience.
On Nov 21, a half-day protest, Bashistha Narain Singh, Member of Parliament, spoke to the demonstrators. A street theatre teacher came and taught a play to a group of volunteers among the protestors, and the group did a performance about how Tibetans and animals happily co-existed in Tibet before Chinese invasion and how they suffer at present. A concluding speech thanking all the participants for their support of the campaign closed the three-day rally.