India doesn't take position on religious practice, says Delhi after Beijing asks it to 'act cautiously' on Dalai Lama reincarnation

New Delhi: The Government of India does not take any position on religious practices, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Friday after Beijing asked New Delhi to “act cautiously” in the wake of the Tibetan leader Dalai Lama’s latest move to rule out any role for China in selecting his reincarnation.

With External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar set to visit China, New Delhi maintained its ambiguity on the issue of the reincarnation of the 14th Dalai Lama, who entrusted the full responsibility of finding his successor to the Gaden Phodrang Trust based in Dharamshala in Himachal Pradesh, the seat of the Tibetan Government in Exile, in India. China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi may also visit New Delhi for the 24th round of boundary negotiations with India’s National Security Advisor Ajit Doval. Wang and Doval are the special representatives of China and India for the boundary negotiations.

“We have seen reports relating to the statement made by His Holiness the Dalai Lama about the continuation of the Dalai Lama institution,” Randhir Jaiswal, the spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), said, adding: “The Government of India does not take any position or speak on matters concerning beliefs and practices of faith and religion.”

“The government has always upheld freedom of religion for all in India and will continue to do so,” Jaiswal said, tacitly taking a dig at China for its purported attempt to interfere in the Tibetan Buddhist practices.

The MEA issued the statement after Beijing not-so-subtly conveyed its displeasure over Indian Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Kiren Rijiju’s comment on Thursday endorsing the decision of the Dalai Lama about his reincarnation. Rijiju had said that no one else, but only the incumbent Dalai Lama, should decide on the process of selecting his reincarnation. He reiterated his comment on Friday, albeit after adding a clarification that he was not speaking on behalf of the Government of India.

India should exercise caution in its words and actions, stop interfering in China’s internal affairs, particularly on the issues related to Xizang (Tibet), and avoid impacting the improvement and development of the China-India relationship, Mao Ning, the spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Chinese Government, said in Beijing.

She was reacting to Rijiju’s comment in New Delhi. India’s Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs had said that nobody had the right to decide on the process of selecting the 15th Dalai Lama except the incumbent 14th Dalai Lama.

Mao also stressed that India should honour its commitment to China on the issue of Xizang (Tibet). She tacitly reminded New Delhi that India had long accepted Tibet as a part of China.

The 14th Dalai Lama, who will turn 90 on Sunday, earlier this week not only confirmed that the institution of the Dalai Lama would continue beyond his lifetime but also announced that no one else but the Gaden Phodrang Trust, which he had set up in India in 2011, would have the sole authority to recognise his future reincarnation.

He made the announcement even as Beijing planned to make Gyaincain Norbu, whom it had declared ‘Panchen Lama’ in 1995 rejecting Dalai Lama’s choice Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, play a key role in selecting the 15th Dalai Lama, using the ‘Golden Urn’ process of lottery, with the approval from the government of China.

China strongly reacted to the Dalai Lama’s statement on Wednesday. “The reincarnation of the Dalai Lama, the Panchen Lama and other great Buddhist figures must be chosen by drawing lots from a golden urn, and approved by the central government,” Mao, the spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Government of China, said.

The Dalai Lama’s move to resist Beijing’s bid to control the process of selecting his reincarnation came at a time when India and China were trying to add momentum to the bilateral relations, which had nosedived during the more-than-four-year-long military stand-off, which started in April-May 2020 along the disputed boundary between the two neighbours in eastern Ladakh and continued till October 2024.

Doval and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh recently visited China. Jaishankar will attend the meeting of the foreign ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation’s members in China on July 15. He would meet Wang Yi on the sideline of the conclave.