Only Dalai Lama can take call on successor: Govt

In the first official reaction by the Centre to the succession plan announced by the Dalai Lama, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju on Thursday endorsed it saying no one else but the Tibetan spiritual leader himself had the right to take the decision.

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The remarks, seen as a rebuttal to China’s “our approval is a must” assertion, came a day after the Dalai Lama authorised the Trust established by his office to decide on his reincarnation. “The Dalai Lama is the most important and defining institution for Buddhists. 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 said.

The Dalai Lama had on Wednesday, days ahead of his 90th birthday, announced: “I hereby reiterate that the Gaden Phodrang Trust has the sole authority to recognise the future reincarnation. No one else has any such authority to interfere in this matter.” China, however, asserted that the Nobel Peace laureate’s successor must receive its approval.

Rijiju, a practising Buddhist, and Rajiv Ranjan Singh, a fellow Union minister, are representing the Centre on the Dalai Lama’s 90th birthday event in Dharamsala on July 6.