In 1959, the Dalai Lama, as well as the large entourage accompanying him, crossed the Chinese border with India and sought refuge. The immediate and the most serious fallout of India playing host to the greatest Buddhist in the world was that Sino-India relations, already strained, began to fall apart. Throughout 1959, Peking kept the heat on Pandit Nehru, provoking numerous incidents on the border. Pandit Nehru, for the first time during his tenure, faced pointed criticism within the Lok Sabha, even from members of the Congress, for what they called his inept handling of the situation.
