Sikkim Buddhist to urge Vajpayee to grant asylum to Karmapa

The arrival of 14-year-old monk has given a new twist to the controversy. While the JAC has been spearheading the movement to bring the Tibet-born Urgyen Trinley Dorjee to India as the rightful claimant to the religious title of the Karmapa of the Karma Kagyu Sect, Shamar Rimpoche, one of the three regent monks of the Karma Kagyu Sect, has reportedly pledged to send his "candidate", 16-year-old Thaye Dorjee, to Rumtek to take over the legacy of headingthe Kagyu Sect.

Thaye dorjee, who is presently in France, is expected to return to India next month. He lives in a Kagyu monastery in neighbouring Kalimpong town in Darjeeling hills. Shamar Rimpoche, who disputes the claim of the 14-year-old Urgyen Trinley Dorjee to the seat, recently accused Union Ministers George Fernandes and Ram Jethmalani of lobbying within the government to get the China-backed Karmapa installed at the Rumtek monastery.

In a recent statement Shamar had reportedly said "I want the Karmapa in India (Thaye Dorjee) to get Rumtek monastery and Rumtek crown (the black hat) because they are in India. Let the Chinese Karmapa (Urgyen Trinley Dorjee) keep the Tsurphu monastery which is in China." This had evoked strong reactions from within the Buddhist community in Sikkim. The Rumtek monastery is the seat-in-exile of the Karma Kagyu sect while the Tsurphu monastery near Lhasa is the seat of the sect in Tibet.

In an apparent move to stall any such moves by Shamar Rimpoche, an 18-memberdelegation of the JAC, which has been spearheading the movement to bring the Tibet-born Urgyen Trinley Dorjee to the seat ever since 1992, left for New Delhi yesterday to meet the Prime Minister.

Besides meeting the Prime Minister, the delegation, headed by president Kunzang Sherab and former Congress legislator of the Himalayan state’s unique monastic "Shanga" seat, would also call on Union Ministers George Fernandes, Jethmalani and L K Advani.