Elon Musk reacts to Indian-origin BBC reporter’s old interview with Dalai Lama | Trending

An old video of the Dalai Lama’s interview with an Indian-origin BBC reporter has resurfaced on social media amid the ongoing debate on immigration. The 2019 video, in which the spiritual leader spoke against unchecked immigration, elicited a reaction from the world’s richest man, Elon Musk. The Dalai Lama spoke about immigration during a 2019 interview with BBC.(Dalai Lama Instagram) The Dalai Lama’s views on immigrationIn 2019, BBC’s Rajini Vaidyanathan got the opportunity to interview the Dalai Lama. The Indian-origin news anchor questioned the Tibetan Buddh leader over a range of topics during the interview, including his views on Asians immigrating to the West. “If people from Afghanan or Middle East want to stay in Europe, shouldn’t they be allowed to?” Vaidyanathan asked. “In limited number, okay,” the Dalai Lama responded. “The whole Europe becoming a Muslim country? Impossible. Or African country – also impossible,” he added, indicating that he was against uncontrolled immigration to the West. The topic of immigration has come under the spotlight again with the appointment of Indian-origin Sriram Krishnan as White House AI advisor. Several right-wing Americans raised concerns about Krishnan removing the cap on H1B visas to bring more Indians to the United States. This speculation led to a wider conversation on Indian immigrants taking away jobs from qualified Americans, especially in STEM occupations. In her 2019 interview with the Dalai Lama, BBC’s Vaidyanathan asked the spiritual leader why Asians, Africans and Middle Easterns moving to Europe should be seen as problematic. “They themselves are better to their own land, climatically,” he replied. “Much better, you’re too cold.” Vaidyanathan continued to press her point, saying her own parents moved from India to the UK. “That’s now their home. That’s okay too, isn’t it? If Indians or anyone else wants to live in Europe,” she asked. The Dalai Lama chuckled at her question. “If England, a small island, [is filled with] 90% Indians, then I don’t know,” he said. Elon Musk’s responseTesla chief Elon Musk had a one-word response to the resurfaced clip on X. “Interesting,” he wrote. Most people in the comments section were against immigration. “Mass migration is fundamentally colonialism. Each country can only absorb so many people into it before you radically change it and even create a destabilizing power vacuum. That’s why immigration needs to be very well regulated,” X user Adam Lowisz wrote. “Thanks to Elon, we can finally have the discussions about important questions that would earn a ban in the past,” another user added. “The Dalai Lama has always held this position. He was asked this same question years ago and replied that a country has a right to maintain its own culture,” a person pointed out.