HimVani
Shimla: Tibetan parliament-in-exile today began discussion on Dalai Lama’s request to resign from public life. The Septoagnarian Nobel laureate announced last week that he wants to leave his role as political chief of the government-in-exile after transferring authority vested in him into able hands.
Dalai Lama wants to hand over his responsibilities to the next prime minister to be elected on Sunday. This change requires a constitutional amendment, which lawmakers in the exiled government were to discuss today. In a letter read out in the parliament on Monday, Dalai Lama argued that the Tibetan movement was now mature enough for a directly-elected political leader. He said in his letter “If we have to remain in exile for several more decades, a time will inevitably come when I will no longer be able to provide leadership.”
Dalai Lama’s political title is largely symbolic and he will retain the more significant role of Tibet ‘s spiritual leader, but the change is a significant step for the Tibetan movement in exile, which is divided between those who want autonomy and those who seek full independence for Tibet from China. The current Prime Minister Samdhong Rinpoche, told reporters on Monday “This decision of His Holiness the Dalai Lama is final. There is no going back.”
