India Snubs China Plan: No one except Dalai Lama can decide his successor says Rijiju

Highlights

New Delhi: A day after the 14th Dalai Lama announced his succession plan, India on Thursday said the next Tibetan spiritual leader would be "chosen...

New Delhi: 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, Union 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.