NEW DELHI (HRNW) – The head of Tibet’s government-in-exile on Thursday defended the Dalai Lama over footage of him asking a boy to suck his tongue, saying the incident had demonstrated the country’s spiritual leader’s innocent and affectionate side.
The Nobel peace laureate apologised after the footage from a public event, which also shows him apparently giving the boy a peck on the lips, went viral, leading to a wave of comments on social media that his behaviour amounted to abuse.
Penpa Tsering, the Sikyong (political leader) of the exiled Central Tibetan Administration, said the Dalai Lama had been “unfairly labelled with all kinds of names that really hurt the sentiment of all his followers”.
The 87-year-old’s “innocent grandfatherly affectionate demeanour” shown in the footage had been misinterpreted, Tsering told reporters in New Delhi, adding that a life of celibacy and spiritual practice had taken the Dalai Lama “beyond the sensorial pleasures”.
The video clip, filmed in February and circulated this month, has been viewed over one million times on Twitter.