Minority affairs minister Kiren Rijiju on Thursday said only the Dalai Lama and established conventions can determine his successor, countering China’s assertion of a say in the succession process.
Rijiju’s comments represented the first response from anyone in the Narendra Modi government to the Dalai Lama’s announcement on Wednesday that the institution would continue and only the Gaden Phodrang Trust under his office had the authority to recognise his reincarnation.
Rijiju hails from Arunachal Pradesh, which China claims as its territory.
The external affairs ministry, which usually takes the lead on issues relating to the Dalai Lama, has not commented on his announcement or responded to queries on the succession plan he has unveiled ahead of his 90th birthday on July 6.
Rijiju told reporters that the Dalai Lama was the most important institution for Buddhists, and all those who followed him felt that the incarnation should be decided by him and the established conventions.
“No one else has the right to decide on the next Dalai Lama,” he said.
India’s longstanding position on the Dalai Lama has been that he is a “revered religious leader” and is “accorded all freedom to carry out his religious activities in India”.
New Delhi officially follows the One China Policy, and does not allow the Tibetan government-in-exile (Central Tibetan Authority) to carry out any political activity in the country.
On Wednesday, the Dalai Lama said: “The process by which a future Dalai Lama is to be recognised has been clearly established in the 24 September 2011 statement which states that responsibility for doing so will rest exclusively with members of the Gaden Phodrang Trust, the Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
“They should consult the various heads of the Tibetan Buddhist traditions and the reliable oath-bound Dharma Protectors who are linked inseparably to the lineage of the Dalai Lamas. They should accordingly carry out theprocedures of search and recognition in accordance with past tradition.
“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.”
Reacting to his announcement, the Chinese foreign ministry had on Wednesday said: “The Dalai Lama’s reincarnation must follow the principles of domestic recognition, the ‘Golden Urn’ process, and approval by the central government, in line with religious traditions and laws.”
Beijing has repeatedly asserted that the 15th Dalai Lama must be born in China and the reincarnation must comply with Chinese laws.
In his recently released book, Voice for the Voiceless: Over Seven Decades of Struggle with China for My Land and My People, the Dalai Lama has written: “Now, since the purpose of a reincarnation is to carry on the work of the predecessor, the new Dalai Lama will be born in the free world so that the traditional mission of the Dalai Lama — that is, to be the voice for universal compassion, the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism, and the symbol of Tibet embodying the aspirations of the Tibetan people — will continue.”
He called it “totally inappropriate for Chinese Communists, who explicitly reject religion, including the idea of past and future lives, to meddle in the system of reincarnation of lamas, let alone that of the Dalai Lama”.