Beijing, China - Chinese authorities plan to celebrate Dalai Lama's exit from Tibet 50 years back. It is planned to declare a public holiday on March 10, which will mark the 50th anniversary of a Tibetan rebellion in 1959, by declaring it as anti-slavery day.
The move is significant because a section of Tibetans and some monks held demonstrations on March 10 last year to observe the anniversary of their uprising against Chinese military might. The demonstrations led to severe rioting in Lhasa and cause refocused world attention on Tibet.
The Tibetan rebellion of 1959 was crushed over 20 days of violence followed by the Dalai Lama's journey from Tibet to India. Chinese authorities have since been trying to remove every trace of the Dalai Lama from the minds of the Tibetan people.
The latest move, which has been blessed by top Communist Party leaders, is another attempt in the direction of reducing the influence of the Dalai Lama in Tibet, sources said The proposal will soon be put up for vote at the second annual session of the ninth Tibet Regional People's Congress. Tibet's
Congress, which begins its session on Wednesday, is expected to approve the proposal as it would do nothing to cross the line or displease leaders based in Beijing, sources said.
Communist leaders say the Dalai Lama presided over a feudal system that encouraged serfdom and allowed some rich monks to lord over poor Tibetan people. Hence, the move to celebrate March as "Serf Liberation Day" that will mark the defeat of the pro-independence uprising.
The official Xinhua News Agency said the public holiday will mark the "emancipation of millions of serfs and slaves" in Tibet.
A senior Communist Party official made it clear that the propaganda campaign is aimed against the Dalai Lama and his supporters. He said the Dalai Lama's supporters were working "against the will of the Tibetan people and running against the historical trend of progress in this region."
The entry of Chinese forces into Tibet in 1949 was followed by efforts to transform the Buddhist, feudal order into a socialist, secular society. Tibetans rebelled on March 10, 1959, to try an oust the Chinese, but the uprising ended after 20 days with the flight of the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader, into exile in India.
The official bill, which will be presented before the Tibetan legislature, is aimed at "reminding all the Chinese people, including Tibetans, of the landmark democratic reform initiated 50 years ago," Pang Boyong, deputy secretary general of the Tibetan regional congress standing committee, said.
"Since then, millions of slaves under the feudal serfdom became masters of their own," Pang was quoted by the official news agency as saying.
Pang also criticized the Dalai Lama and his supporters for "sabotaging" the Communist Party's system of regional autonomy in Tibet.
China perceives the Dalai Lama's call for "real autonomy" for Tibetans as an attempt to destroy China's sovereignty by pushing for independence for Tibet.