Representative Keith Ellison, Minnesota Democrat serving since 2007, is seen in a photo taken on 30 April 2012. File photo/Flickr/Photographer unknown

By Tendar Tsering

US Congressman Keith Ellison has accepted the invitation to accompany His Holiness the Dalai Lama to celebrate the Losar (the Tibetan new year) which falls on 2 March.

“We are very honoured and excited as His Holiness the Dalai Lama will be here in Minnesota to bless us during our Tibetan New Year celebration,” said Namgyal Dorjee, the president of the Tibetan American Foundation of Minnesota.

Along with the US Congressman, several other American politicians and high dignitaries including the Governor of Minnesota Mark Dayton were also invited to attend the Tibetan New Year celebration.

According to the Tibetan American Foundation of Minnesota, the governor has already turned down the request citing health issues.

During a week-long visit to Minnesota in 2011 the governor had stayed away from any public appearances with the Dalai Lama, but later he was said to have met with the Tibetan spiritual leader privately.

“The governor a has good relationship with Beijing and he is indeed trying to stay away from His Holiness the Dalai Lama, but he might meet him privately when His Holiness will be here at the end of this Month,” said Dhondup Gyaltsen, a Tibetan-American who works at the Mall of America.

A day before the Tibetan New Year, the Tibetan spiritual leader is scheduled to speak at the 26th annual Nobel Peace Prize Forum at the Minneapolis Convention Center organized by the Nobel Peace Prize Forum and Augsburg college in St Paul, the capital city of Minnesota.

After attending the Forum, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate the Dalai Lama will give a talk on the “nature of happiness, fulfilment and embodiment” at Macalester college in the same city.

The Tibetan spiritual leader is also scheduled to preside over a meeting of Tibetan and Chinese students in the city, where His Holiness will take questions from the students.

Following the events in Minnesota, His Holiness the Dalai Lama will visit Washington DC before flying back to his exile home in India.