'Right to pick successor rests with Dalai Lama, institution'

In a terse message to China, India has asserted that the right to pick the 14th Dalai Lama's successor rests with the incumbent and the institution, and added that two union ministers, Kiren Rijiju (BJP) and Rajiv Ranjan Singh (JDU) will attend the Dalai Lama's 90th birthday celebrations in Dharamshala on July 6.

- Smriti Kak Ramachandran

On Thursday, Rijiju said the institution of the Dalai Lama is the most important and defining institution for Tibetans not just in Tibet but across the world.

"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 said.

The minister said the Indian government's decision to depute two senior ministers to attend the celebrations is not a political issue.

India has for long stated that the process of naming the successor is a long standing tradition that the Dalai Lama undertakes and no third party has a role to play here.