The message from the Dalai Lama’s visit to Sikkim, north Bengal

EOI (Editorial), 18 December 2023 : The recent visit of the Dalai Lama to Sikkim and Siliguri should send a message to China, that it will not be easy for Beijing to foist on the Tibetans a Dalai Lama of its own choice as the successor to the reigning 14th Dalai Lama. With the reigning Dalai advancing in age, the issue of his succession is being discussed in different fora.

Keen to ensure that his successor is a puppet of China, the Religious Affairs Department of China in 2007 issued an order that the installation of are incarnate lama on the spiritual seat must get the prior approval of the Department and that the reincarnate Lama must not be under the domination of any foreign organization and must uphold the principle of unification of China. 

Mandarins of the Communist Party of China remain worried, however, that the millions of Tibetans living in occupied Tibet and in different parts of the world will not accept the chosen candidate of China as the Dalai Lama and will goby the choice of the Ganden Phodrang Trust of the 14th Dalai. They will have furrowed foreheads that the prayer ceremony of the Dalai Lama at Palzor Stadium in Gangtok was attended by over30,000 people and the one at Salugara in Siliguri was attended by more than 20,000 people. 

People thronged to listen to the Dalai, not only from different corners of India but also from the neighbouring countries of Nepal and Bhutan. His prayer ceremonies in Bodh Gaya, where the Dalai Lama currently is, are also drawing a large number of devotees. Among those has also been Chief Minister of Bihar Nitish Kumar. 

The message is thus clear that China may by muscle power nominate its own candidate as the next Dalai, but no one is going to accept him. An article in the Global Times, the mouthpiece of the Communist Party of China that appeared last year saying that the recognition of the new Dalai Lama must be conducted in China betrays the sign of this nervousness. Beijing has already burnt its fingers with Gedhun Choekyi Nyima who the Dalai Lama had recognized as the 11thPanchen Lama. 

At the tender age of five years, he was kidnapped by the Chinese authorities and a puppet Panchen was installed by Beijing in his place. There has been no news about the kidnapped Panchen since then but the hope of the CPC satraps that Tibetans will accept the puppet Panchen has been dashed. 

Even today, wherever there is a Tibetan settlement, prayers are held on April 25, his birthday, for his safety and his return. 

The Dalai Lama being the most revered reincarnate lama in the Tibetan Buddhist order and the beacon of hope of Tibetans all over the world that one day Tibet will get real autonomy, the stakes are higher for Beijing in case of the Dalai. 

Beijing hopes that the nomination of a puppet Dalai will help it to strengthen its clutches on the Tibet and stymie the movement for a free Tibet. If no one accepts the puppet Dalai, however, the hope of Beijing will be dashed.