Meet the international leader who has met all 15 Indian Prime Ministers

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Alankrita Anand| The News Minute| July 14, 2014| 06:00 pm IST Tibetan spiritual leader and Nobel Laureate the Dalai Lama is perhaps the only person to have met all Indian Prime Minsters, all save Narendra Modi who he's met prior to his appointment as Prime Minister. That makes it a list of 14 Prime Ministers (15 if you include PM Modi), many of whom the Dalai Lama has met more than just once. Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister for 11 years and 59 days, over three terms, tops the list of the highest number of meetings at ten. Her father and India's first PM Jawaharlal Nehru, is a close second with eight meetings. It was in 1959, during Nehru's last term, that the Dalai Lama fled to India. He then established a Tibetan Government-in-exile and has hence resided in Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh. On May 29, 2011, the Dalai Lama retired from all his political posts. He is the 14th and the longest serving Dalai Lama and has held the title since 1950. Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru In office- 1947-1952 (Interim Prime Minister), 1952-1964 (L-R: Chou En-Lai, Premier of the People's Republic of China, Jawaharlal Nehru, Prime Minister of India, His Holiness and Panchen Rinpoche, New Delhi, 1957) Lal Bahadur Shastri In office- 1964-1966 Indira Gandhi In office- 1966-1977, 1980-1984 Morarji Desai In office- 1977-1979 (2nd from left- Morarji Desai, 3rd from left- the Dalai Lama) Charan Singh In office- 1979-1980 Rajiv Gandhi In office- 1984-1989 V.P. Singh In office- 1989-1990 Chandra Shekhar In office- 1990-1991 P.V. Narsimha Rao In office- 1991-1996 (No image available) According to the official website of the Dalai Lama (www,dalailama.com), Narsimha Rao, India's 10th Prime Minister, had met the Dalai Lama on two occasions. The unavailability of photographic evidence could be because PM Rao was known to have maintained distance from the monk. Atal Bihari Vajpayee In office- 1996 (16 days), 1998-2004 H.D. Deve Gowda In office- 1996-1997 (No image available) The Dalai Lama met PM Deve Gowda in the year 1997, according to an article in The Indian Express dated October 23, 1998. However, it is unclear as to whether they met when the latter was in office or after the end of the term. I.K. Gujral In office- 1997-1998 2 Manmohan Singh In office- 2004-2014 (No image available) Surprisingly, PM Manmohan Singh, who remained in office for two consecutive terms and met the Dalai Lama on at least two occasions has no photo with the Nobel Laureate. We searched and searched, could not find any images! We felt sorry. Narendra Damodardas Modi In office- 2014- present The Dalai Lama has met the incumbent Prime Minister but before his appointment as Prime Minister. We'll wait for a new photo.

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