NEW DELHI – India has firmly thrown its weight behind the Dalai Lama’s exclusive right to decide his successor, opposing China’s assertion that it holds the final say in the Tibetan spiritual leader’s reincarnation.

Union Minister for Minority Affairs Kiren Rijiju, speaking from Dharamshala where he is attending the Dalai Lama’s 90th birthday celebrations, reaffirmed India’s position. He emphasized that the selection of the next Dalai Lama must follow established religious traditions and the will of the current Dalai Lama. “No one else has the right to decide it except him and the conventions in place,” Rijiju stated, calling the Dalai Lama the most revered and defining figure in Buddhism.

China, meanwhile, has maintained its long-standing claim that the process of identifying the next Dalai Lama must be carried out under Chinese law. Beijing insists that the reincarnation must adhere to what it calls “religious rituals, historical conventions, and legal regulations,” and has repeatedly rejected any selection process outside its control.

The renewed debate comes after the Dalai Lama, on July 1, publicly confirmed that the centuries-old institution of his reincarnation would continue — and that only his official office, the Gaden Phodrang Trust, has the legitimate authority to oversee it. In a clear rebuke to China’s stance, he declared: “No one else has any such authority to interfere in this matter.”

He also noted the overwhelming support he has received from Tibetan communities both inside and outside China, as well as from followers of Tibetan Buddhism in regions including the Himalayas, Mongolia, Russia, and even within mainland China.

As tensions between India and China persist on multiple fronts, the issue of the Dalai Lama’s succession has now emerged as a fresh point of spiritual and geopolitical contention.

@India-West News Desk