Tawang, Nov. 9 : While China has blamed New Delhi for trying to provoke Beijing by orchestrating Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama’s controversial visit to Arunachal Pradesh, India has rubbished the allegation.

“The Dalai Lama went to southern Tibet at this critical moment probably because of pressure from India. By doing so, he can please the country that has hosted him for years,” the People’s Daily quoted Hu Shisheng, a researcher at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, as saying.

The report published in China’s state-run newspaper Global times even said that India seems to have forgotten the lessons of 1962 war.

“India may have forgotten the lesson of 1962, when its repeated provocation resulted in military clashes warning. India is on this wrong track again…When the conflict gets sharper and sharper, the Chinese government will have to face it and solve it in a way India has designed,” Hu said.

Meanwhile, Minister of State for External Affairs, Shashi Tharoor, on Monday denied Chinese charges, pointing out that New Delhi does not deal with the travels of religious figures.

"The Dalai Lama is free to travel anywhere in India... I have not heard the suggestion comes from us as we do not deal with the spiritual travels of spiritual leaders. He has to visit his flock as he sees fit,” Tharoor told the India Economic Summit.

He added that he was "sure that the initiative (to visit Tawang) would have come from him".

Tharoor also said that India had been "very generous" by giving over "58,000 business visas" to the Chinese.

"As far as our basic policy is concerned, we would certainly be hesitant to offer employment to a foreigner for a job which could be done by an Indian in India," said Tharoor.

Earlier, addressing the mass at Arunachal’s Tawang, Dalai Lama said Beijing''s accusations that his visit was anti-China and damaging to India-China relations are "baseless".

"My visit to Tawang is non-political and aimed at promoting universal brotherhood and nothing else," the Nobel Peace laureate had said. (ANI)