I still find it funny how Hindus esp of BJP types are trying so hard to claim Buddha is one of them. This is despite Buddha being opposed to the Vedas, caste system and a lot of stuff that would make Hindus angry. Ambedkar who lead the dalit revolution mass converted to Buddhism (heavily influenced by SEA btw) to oppose the Hindu caste system. Not to mention Buddha isn't even Indian but Nepalese (if Indians wanna say Nepal didn't exist back then they should be consistent and say India also didn't exist). Also if you look at the history like with what Xuanzang wrote, Buddhism was sort of kicked out by Hindus quite a long time ago as they subtly cut off patronage while co-opting Buddhist ideas. India hasn't exactly been kind to Sri Lanka or Nepal despite their so called shared heritage.The core fantasy underlying the Indian elite psyche is the separation of Tibet from China, and in the maximalist scenario, fully integrated under the sovereignty of India proper. The logic goes that Buddhism originated from India, thus India is the spiritual protector of Tibet, which could justify such territorial aggression. This thinking dovetails with the colonialist mindset of Hindutva and represents an existential threat to China, full stop. Not unlike Iran calling for the destruction of Israel. This is unacceptable and cannot stand. I am sure the Chinese leadership understands this.
I don't see this behavior applied so much to say Sikhs who are more consistent in maintaining their own identity. Then again Sikhs are fighters and aren't against using violence which they showed by killing a prime minister.
Fun fact: Did you know India is one of the largest beef exporters in the world? They justify this saying its not cow but buffalo so technically its not wrong coz the holy book says so for this special case. Even though buffalo is part of the Bovidae family (although not the same subspecies), the need for earning money far exceeds beliefs on animals.
My point is, despite India claiming to have strong beliefs so they perform an action, its probably the other way round where they want something and will make up a belief to justify it. Buddhism became popular outside and not Hinduism but India wants to clout so they justify it backwards. And history as shown that unfortunately the only way to deal with someone like that is to take action rather than appeal to their good (bad) faith. Otherwise, you will get screwed over.
I hope China is aware of this otherwise they are setting themselves up to be swindled.
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