[Buddha-l] Dalits convert to Buddhism--the event

[Stuart Lachs]

>Although the Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama, who was supposed to lead
> the "largest religious conversion in modern India", could not make it to 
> the
> ceremony, there was a huge gathering of Buddhist monks in their maroon 
> robes
> from different parts of India, as well as from other countries.

Does any one know why the Dalai Lama "could not make it"? Did it have to do 
with
political reasons: not wanting to antagonize the the Hindu nationalists?