Dalai Lama Steps Down

The Dalai Lama will step down as political leader of the Tibetan government-in-exile, potentially confounding the Chinese government’s efforts to control the succession process after his death, according to the Financial Times.

The broadsheet reporting said that ‘in an address to his followers on Thursday, the Dalai Lama said the time had come for a transition to a new leadership.

' “I have repeatedly stressed that Tibetans need a leader, elected freely by the Tibetan people, to whom I can devolve power” ‘ he said from Dharamsala, the hill station that serves as a capital for exiled Tibetans.

‘The Chinese government, which has ruled Tibet since 1959, dismissed the Dalai Lama’s announcement as the posturing of a “political separatist”.

'While the Dalai Lama will remain Tibetans’ spiritual leader, the decision to relinquish political power before his death will make it harder for the Chinese government to argue that his temporal authority has passed to a reincarnated successor of Beijing’s choosing.

“China is making every effort to control the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama because they believe that is where Tibetan political and religious identity is held,” ‘ said Stephanie Brigden, director of international campaign group Free Tibet.

'With this transfer of political leadership the Dalai Lama is divorcing the religious and the political, diminishing the capacity of the Chinese to manipulate the politics of Tibet through its religious identity.”

‘Rajiv Mehrotra, a close aide to the Dalai Lama, said: “The Dalai Lama is progressively implementing (his withdrawal). There is additional significance because of prime ministerial elections coming up in the Tibetan movement.” '

The election is scheduled for tomorrow March 20.

Share on: Facebook del.icio.us Digg StumbleUpon Twitter