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Journalism of Courage
NEW DELHI, JANUARY 22: The Dalai Lama has written to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee urging him to accord protection to Orgyen Trinley Dorje, the 17th Karmapa of the Kagyu sect who fled Tibet and arrived in India early this month, and to allow him to stay in India and get his education here.The Tibetan leader’s missive to Vajpayee is an endorsement of the request made by the Karmapa himself to the Government to be allowed to stay on in India and pursue his religious activities.
The Dalai Lama is learnt to have said that the 14-year-old Karmapa was a person of immense spiritual significance and he should be allowed to go through appropriate and traditional training by teachers who were all in India.
Confirming this, Tashi Wangdi, Minister of Religious Affairs of the Tibetan Government-in-exile in Dharamsala, told The Indian Express that now the Government had all the information it had sought. “We are waiting for the Government’s response.”
Asked if the Karmapa had also sent his request in writing, Tashi Wangdi said: “Technically, the first step has to be taken by the person himself. Only then can others plead his case. Whatever the Karmapa wants, to carry out his religious responsibilities, would have the support of His Holiness and the support of the Tibetan administration.”
The Government appears to be in no hurry to decide. It is buying time and has written to the Chinese Government seeking information about the circumstances surrounding the 14-year-old Lama’s flight from Tsurphu monastery in Tibet. It has yet to hear from the Chinese.
Caught by surprise, the Ministry of External Affairs has been extremely cautious in its response, even though Defence Minister George Fernandes said that he could be allowed to stay on for a while.
The Lama’s arrival has put New Delhi in a dilemma. It runs the risk of annoying the Chinese, with whom its relations are slowly improving. Sending him back would show India in a bad light as not only inhospitable, but also as having succumbed to China.
While not inclined to give the Karmapa “political asylum,” it is trying to evolve what kind of status it should confer on him. Some hope that it may be possible for a third country like the US to take him.
In his note to Vajpayee, the Dalai Lama has reportedly not sought “political asylum” for the Karmapa. Asked about it, Wangdi replied, “I have never used that term.”
Ajit Panja, Minister of State for External Affairs, possibly gave a clue to what might be a way out when he said that India was a home of all religions and it welcomed all kinds of religious leaders.
The Government is also concerned about the “Sikkim angle.” A couple of years ago, the Chief Minister of Sikkim had written to the Centre urging it to let the Lama come to Sikkim. When the 16th Karmapa fled Tibet in 1959, the then Chogyal of Sikkim had offered him a site not far from Gangtok at Rumtek to build his monastery there on the lines of the Tsurphu monastery, which is the original seat of the Kagyu sect.
The 17th Karmapa’s advisors would like him to head the Rumtek monastery but there are other claimants to it even though the Dalai Lama, who is considered the highest religious authority of Tibetans, had in 1992 given recognition to Dorje as the incarnation of the 16th Karmapa who died in 1981. South Block is worried that the conflict over Rumtek may come to destabilise the political situation in Sikkim. As it is, China does not recognise the union of Sikkim with India.
Aware of the concerns of the Government, both the Dalai Lama and the Karmapa have made themselves incommunicado. And Tashi Wangdi said: “Though we are waiting for the Indian Government’s decision, we would not be surprised if it takes a few weeks.”
