The Dalai Lama said on Saturday that the Chinese government had destroyed Buddhist temples, poisoned the people of Tibet and tried to decimate Buddhism.

“The Chinese government tried its utmost to destroy Buddhism. It razed Buddhist viharas. It poisoned our people. Our faith in the religion and Lord Buddha did not lessen despite all this,” the Dalai Lama said at the conclusion of his three-day discourse at the Kalchakra Teaching Ground in Bodh Gaya in Bihar.

Over 60,000 devotees attended the discourse in Bodh Gaya. Arunachal Pradesh chief minister Pema Khandu was present.

The Dalai Lama’s comments come at a time the Modi government has stepped up its engagement with the spiritual and temporal leader of Tibetan Buddhists in what is being seen as an attempt to irritate the Chinese after bilateral relations nosedived following the Galwan clashes in 2020.

Since the clashes, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has publicly greeted the Dalai Lama on his birthday in two consecutive years. This drew a sharp response from Beijing, which saw in the Prime Minister’s greetings an attempt to interfere in China’s internal affairs.

The Dalai Lama periodically criticises China, and more often than not provokes Beijing -– which sees him as a separatist –- to respond.

On Saturday in Bodh Gaya, the Dalai Lama, who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989, said: “Buddhism stands tall in China despite all the efforts to decimate it there. No religion becomes endangered if anybody tries to harm it. China still has followers of Buddhism and the people there still worship Lord Buddha. I have been to China and the people there have a deep connection with Buddhism.”

He termed the Covid-19 pandemic as worse than a nuclear bomb and underscored the need for “a world free of nuclear weapons and pandemics”.