Rijiju Backs Dalai Lama on Reincarnation as China Says Beijing's Approval Needed

The Wire

2 days ago

New Delhi: A day after the Dalai Lama stated that only a trust affiliated with his office would have the authority to decide on his reincarnation, prompting China to assert that its approval was necessary, India's minority affairs minister Kiren Rijiju endorsed the Tibetan Buddhist leader's position and said that no one else had the right to make that decision.
Talking to reporters on Thursday (July 3), Rijiju said that 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 was quoted as saying by PTI.
On Wednesday, just days before his 90th birthday, the spiritual head of Tibetan Buddhism had outlined his succession plans in a long-anticipated statement from Dharamshala, where he has lived for decades.
'I am affirming that the institution of the Dalai Lama will continue,' he said in a video message in the Tibetan language. 'I hereby reiterate that the Gaden Phodrang Trust has sole authority to recognize the future reincarnation. No one else has any such authority to interfere in this matter.'
China, which considers the Dalai Lama a separatist figure, responded by reiterating that any reincarnation must receive approval from Beijing.
Chinese ambassador to India Xu Feihong posted on social media that the Dalai Lama's successor must be selected through the 'Golden Urn lottery procedure'. Beijing 'exempted' the incumbent Dalai Lama from the lottery procedure, Xu said, but his successor 'must follow the process that consists of search and identification in China, lot-drawing from the Golden Urn' and have 'central government approval'.
He will also need to 'comply with religious rituals and historical conventions as well as Chinese laws and regulations', per Xu, who said that the Chinese government lawfully 'protects the tradition of reincarnation of Living Buddhas [among whom is the Dalai Lama]'.
The Indian government will be represented by Rijiju and Rajiv Ranjan Singh, minister of Panchayati raj, fisheries and animal husbandry, at the Dalai Lama's 90th birthday event in Dharamshala on July 6.
Rijiju, a practising Buddhist from Arunachal Pradesh, has consistently expressed admiration for the Dalai Lama, as evident from his social media posts.
He has extended birthday greetings to the Tibetan spiritual leader every year and, in 2023, inaugurated the Dalai Lama Centre for Tibetan & Indian Ancient Wisdom in Bodh Gaya, an event attended by the Dalai Lama himself.
As a Union minister, his presence at the birthday celebrations is not new. However, his clear endorsement of the Dalai Lama's position on reincarnation is unprecedented. This is the first time an Indian government functionary has commented publicly on the matter, and the remarks are likely to invite a response from Beijing.
It is unclear whether this represents an official shift in India's position, or will be dodged by New Delhi as a personal view of the minister.
Until now, New Delhi has been publicly cautious in its approach to the Dalai Lama. It has neither commented on the issue of his succession nor formally recognised the Central Tibetan Administration, though it does not interfere in its lawful activities.
India, which has been home to the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan government-in-exile for 66 years, has traditionally described the monk as 'a revered religious leader' who is 'accorded all freedom to carry out his religious activities' in the country. This has been New Delhi's standard line when responding to Chinese objections, particularly regarding his visits to Arunachal Pradesh.
The question of succession raises fresh dilemmas for India – whether it should take a public position on the matter, and to what extent China might expect or demand a stance from New Delhi.
In a 2024 paper, former foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale noted that while India has so far refrained from taking a public position, it has also shown reluctance to accept Chinese-appointed religious figures uncritically. He cited the case of Ugyen Thinley Dorje, one of two claimants to the title of the 17th Karmapa Lama, regarded as the second-most senior figure in Tibetan Buddhism after the Dalai Lama. Endorsed by China's State Council, Ugyen Thinley Dorje escaped to India seven years later. He has since lived abroad and acquired a foreign passport.
Gokhale, who also served as India's ambassador to China from 2016 to 2017, also raised a set of difficult questions in the same paper that New Delhi may eventually have to confront. These include how a disagreement with China over the Dalai Lama's reincarnation could fuel Chinese distrust and trigger a shift in its foreign policy posture.
He also raised questions around how India might handle the interment of the current Dalai Lama's remains and what its position would be if the Dalai Lama Trust were to identify an Indian citizen as the reincarnation.