India’s Clear Message To China : Dalai Lama Lone Will Decide His Successor

3rd July 2025 at 1:05 PM

1 minute read

India on Thursday raised a strong objection to China's demand that Beijing must approve the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama, asserting that no one except the Tibetan spiritual leader himself has the authority to decide on his successor.

New Delhi : India on Thursday raised a strong objection to China’s demand that Beijing must approve the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama, asserting that no one except the Tibetan spiritual leader himself has the authority to decide on his successor. Union Minister for Minority Affairs Kiren Rijiju said, The position of the Dalai Lama is of utmost importance, not just for Tibetans but for all his followers across the world. The right to decide on his successor rests solely with the Dalai Lama himself.

Rijiju and Janata Dal (United) leader Lallan Singh are visiting Dharamshala as representatives of the Indian government to attend events marking the Dalai Lama’s 90th birthday. This is purely a religious occasion, Rijiju added. The Union Minister’s remarks came after the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader reaffirmed that the 600-year-old institution of the Dalai Lama would continue beyond his lifetime, and that the choice of the 15th Dalai Lama would rest entirely with the Gaden Phodrang Trust, the official office of the Dalai Lama.

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 Dalai Lama’s office said in a statement on Wednesday. The Dalai Lama has lived in exile in India since 1959, when he fled Lhasa following a failed uprising against Chinese rule. While Beijing continues to label him a separatist bent on splitting Tibet from China, the Dalai Lama is seen worldwide as a symbol of non-violence, compassion and the Tibetan people’s struggle to protect their cultural and religious identity.

In 2011, the Dalai Lama formally relinquished political authority to an elected government-in-exile representing around 1,30,000 Tibetans worldwide. Even then, he had cautioned that the spiritual institution of the Dalai Lama was at “obvious risk” of being exploited for political ends through manipulation of the centuries-old reincarnation process.