Shashi, I think comparing Dalai Lama to Mahatma Gandhi would be incorrect beyond the fact that they believed in non violence. I respect them for that.
However I feel Gandhi (and Nelson Mandela in SA) finally achieved his aim (freedom) since he protested in India while the British ruled. I feel if Dalai Lama needs to protest, he should do it living in Tibet rather than in India. Just as Gandhi went to England for the round table conference, Lama should go to China and work something out.