Sandeep Dikshit

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 6

President of theTibetan Government-in-exile Lobsang Sangay is confident that Buddhists will not accept any Chinese move to foist the 5th Dalai Lama.

“That’s the Chinese plan,’’ he said about recent Chinese claims that the successor to the 14th Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso will be chosen by Beijing. “We are talking of reincarnation of the Dalai Lama’s consciousness and soul. Look at the Chinese government’s track record which has always vilified the present Dalai Lama. Who will accept their claim? How many Tibetans will follow a Chinese Dalai Lama?,’’ he said, acknowledging that the Chinese plan is to create confusion among the Tibetans with the emergence of two Dalai Lamas, one nominated by them and the other by Tibetan exiles.

Asked if there can be two Dalai Lamas, he felt that is the Chinese game plan and referred to the case of Panchen Lama, considered second in spiritual authority to the Dalai Lama. The Dalai Lama had chosen the 11th Panchen Lama but he was taken into Chinese custody at the age of five about 25 years back and has not been heard since. Instead the Chinese foisted another Panchen Lama through a draw of lots. “How many follow him?’’ he asked.

Sangay felt the controversy over Ogyen Trinley Dorje is nearing an end and he felt that the head of one of the four schools of Buddhism will soon return to India. Dorje had left India in 2017 amid reports that he may not return due to ill-treatment by authorities here. “He will return. The Indian government has done a lot for him. There was some misunderstanding but for the last six or seven years his treatment has become better,’’ he observed.

Sangay also sounded a note of caution against allowing Chinese to gain influence. Making the observation on the basis of what he had experienced in several countries including Australia, South Africa and Norway, he said the Chinese act with impunity and brooked no dissent.

Sangay played down the absence of an invite to attend the second swearing in ceremony of PM Modi and felt the invitation for his first swearing in was in itself unexpected. “It was an exception. Chinese pressure is always there. It is understandable and I have no complaints. Wherever I go abroad, they send people to protest. But we are not scared of China.’’

Commenting on the situation in Hong Kong, the Tibetan political leader with a doctorate from Harvard University, said democracy is universal and inevitable. “We are in solidarity,’’ he said.