- India stated the next Dalai Lama will be chosen by the current one and established conventions
- Kiren Rijiju affirmed the Dalai Lama's succession should reflect his wishes and traditions
- Beijing insists it must approve any future Dalai Lama
A day after the 14th Dalai Lama announced his succession plan, India on Thursday said the next Tibetan spiritual leader would be "chosen only by the present one and with the established conventions"-- a move seen as an apparent snub to China. Beijing has insisted that any future heir of the Dalai Lama must receive its seal of approval.
Talking to reporters in New Delhi, Minority Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju noted that the Dalai Lama is the "most important and defining institution" for the Buddhists, and his successor must be decided as per the wish of the Buddhist leader himself.
"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 is the most important institution for Tibetans and all those who follow the Nalanda tradition of Buddhism. On Wednesday, the Buddhist leader said that the institution of the Dalai Lama will continue and only the Gaden Phodrang Trust will have the authority to recognise his future reincarnation.
The charismatic, Nobel Peace Prize-winning Buddhist had previously said the institution of the Dalai Lama would continue only if there was popular demand.
The announcement was seen as a landmark decision for Tibetans, many of whom had feared a future without a leader, as well as for global supporters who see the Dalai Lama as a symbol of non-violence, compassion and the enduring struggle for Tibetan cultural identity under Chinese rule.
Rijiju, a practising Buddhist, and Rajiv Ranjan Singh, a fellow Union minister, are representing the Government of India at the Dalai Lama's 90th birthday event in Dharamshala on July 6.
China's Demand
According to Tibetans, Tenzin Gyatso is the 14th reincarnation of the Dalai Lama. He and thousands of other Tibetans have lived in exile in Himachal Pradesh's Dharamshala since Chinese troops crushed an uprising in the Tibetan capital Lhasa in 1959.
In 1995, Beijing selected a Panchen Lama, another influential Tibetan religious figure, and detained a Dalai Lama-recognised six-year-old, described by rights groups as the world's youngest political prisoner.
After the 14th Dalai Lama announced his succession plan, China said on Wednesday that the reincarnation of the holy figure "must be approved by the central government" in Beijing, and that it would be carried out "by drawing lots from a golden urn", foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told reporters.
That urn is held by Beijing, and the Dalai Lama has already warned that, when used dishonestly, it lacks "any spiritual quality".
