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Only Dalai Lama can decide on his incarnation: India snubs China
Kiren Rijiju called the Dalai Lama the "most important and defining institution" of the Buddhists, and said nobody else can decide his successor.
A day after China said that the Dalai Lama’s successor would be chosen following its seal of approval, India dismissed the assertion, saying the only authority to decide on the Incarnation of the Dalai Lama would be the the established institution and the Dalai Lama himself.
Union Minister Kiren Rijiju on Thursday called the Dalai Lama the "most important and defining institution" of the Buddhists, and said nobody else has the right to make such an important decision.
"And all those who follow the Dalai Lama feel that the Incarnation is to be decided by the established convention and as per the wish of the Dalai Lama himself. Nobody else has the right to decide it except him and the conventions in place," Rijiju was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.
Rijiju is a practicing Buddhist. He will represent the government at the Dalai Lama's 90th birthday event in Dharamshala on July 6.
What Dalai Lama said, why China fumed
The 600-year-old institution a spiritual head of Tibetan Buddhists would continue, Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, had announced.
However, he also ruled out China's role in choosing the next Dalai Lama, asserting that a non-profit trust created by him in 2015 will be the sole authority to recognise his reincarnation.
“I hereby reiterate that the Gaden Phodrang Trust has sole authority to recognise the future reincarnation; no one else has any such authority to interfere in this matter,” the Dalai Lama had said.
After Dalai Lama asserted control on the important decision, China criticised his remarks and rejected his succession plan. It said that the Chinese government would approve the decision after choices were made by drawing lots from a golden urn.
“The reincarnation of the Dalai Lama, the Panchen Lama and other great Buddhist figures must be chosen by drawing lots from a golden urn, and approved by the central government,” said foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning.
Tenzin Gyatso was only 23 when he fled Lhasa in 1959 as Chinese troops took control of Tibet. He has long been termed a "separatist" by China.
The Dalai Lama is turning 90 on July 6. In 2011, he had announced that he would decide on his 90th birthday whether the position he holds would continue.
(With PTI inputs)
