There is still one month left for the Dalai Lama to visit Arunachal Pradesh’s border town of Tawang but Sino-Indian verbal skirmishing is already getting into high gear. China had won the last round of jostling between the two countries over the Dalai Lama. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as part of his “tough guy” diplomacy had nudged the Dalai Lama to visit Mongolia as a counterbalance to Beijing’s spreading tentacles in the neighbourhood. In the end it didn’t come off. Mongolia had to promise China it would never again pull off such a caper. Declassified Chinese documents show the driving forces for the 1962 conflict were anchored in Tibet, especially the Dalai Lama’s exile to India. Despite extreme Chinese sensitivity to the Dalai Lama’s public engagements (it has forced many world leaders to call off their engagements with the Tibetan leader), India has enjoyed the better of the exchanges.The junior minister for bytes in all seasons, Kiren Rijiju, is on home ground when he speaks about Arunachal Pradesh. But he is either unaware of recent history or is simply playing to the gallery when he said the Dalai Lama’s forthcoming visit to Tawang is part of a “behavioural change you are seeing. India is more assertive.” For the record, this is the sixth time the Dalai Lama is visiting Arunachal. Previous governments had ignored Beijing’s fulminations and held international meets where the Dalai Lama was the chief guest.This consistent Indian policy of permitting the Dalai Lama to move freely within the country has left China resigned to registering token protests. If the current Indian government is “more assertive” as suggested by Rijiju, it should try to turn the corner on the border dispute. The Chinese have thrice hinted at a swap — this entails China and India giving up their claims to Arunachal Pradesh and Aksai Chin, respectively. As both countries are yet to achieve a level of trust to start discussing territorial swaps, they must strive to keep a lid on emotions. Beijing too ought to realise that after its hold on Masood Azhar, it is hardly well placed to raise objections on the Dalai Lama’s social engagements.