Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama greets Hollywood actor Richard Gere in Bengaluru on Monday. PTI
Bengaluru, December 7
Amid a raging debate over
intolerance, Tibetan spiritual head the Dalai Lama today said overall Indians
are religiously tolerant, but there are some politicians and some sections of
the media who create sensationalism out of “small things”.
“Ninety nine per cent of Indians
still are religiously tolerant and one per cent it is possible (to have
intolerant people). I believe that. Some politicians may express different
things, but that is their individual expression,” the Dalai Lama said.
“Some people in the media, too,
create small things into ....sensationalism,” said the Dalai Lama, on a
three-day visit to Bengaluru. The Tibetan spiritual leader said a lot of
problems were highlighted in newspapers but they were not that serious.
“In India, I feel when we look at
the newspapers, there are a lot of problems, but besides that nothing serious -
Totalitarian regimes’ newspaper is smooth, but underneath a lot of problems,”
he said.
On writers not returning awards
during the Emergency and the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, the Dalai Lama said US
President Barack Obama had mentioned Modi as a straightforward and a visionary
leader and his visits to different countries has improved India’s image and it
is on the path of becoming an economic power.
“President
Obama sort of expressed Modi as brother, truthful, straightforward leader with
a vision. During his visits to different countries, the image of India and also
the economy, I do not know the details, but if you see his own sort of
speeches, India’s economy is very rapidly increasing and India is on the path
of becoming more powerful,” he said. — PTI
