The Sikkim Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang has written to Prime Minister Modi to allow Karmapa’s return to India. In a recent development, the chief minister has informed PM Modi that the devotees of the spiritual leader in Sikkim are waiting to receive blessings in person and they are looking forward to an early visit to the state.
Sikkim Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang on Wednesday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying that the devotees of Karmapa want to have a physical darshan of their supreme head and that all the Sikkimese are looking forward to his early visit to Sikkim, according to the report by The Week on Thursday.
17th Karmapa Ogyen Trinley Dorjee escaped Tsurphu monastery in Tibet on December 28, 1999, and arrived at Dharamsala on January 5, 2000, trekking about 1,100 km while dodging the Chinese army. While India provided him shelter, a tight scrutiny of Indian intelligence and police at his residence in Dharamsala was maintained for many years. Thus the Tibetan spiritual leader has not been able to travel freely both inside as well as outside India.
Although the Modi government removed most travel restrictions imposed upon the spiritual leader and allowed him to visit the state of Sikkim where Rumtek monastery is situated. Though he is still not allowed to visit the monastery and since he left India in May 2017, he has been on an extended stay predominantly in the United States.
The Karmapa earlier announced that he has acquired the citizenship of Commonwealth of Dominica and received a passport of the same. Although he had left India on the Identity Certificate (IC), a travel document issued by the government of India for Tibetan refugees, the passport of Commonwealth of Dominica was sought to ease the complications associated with travelling on the travel document. But there has since then been a complicated situation for his return to India.
Namrata Biji Ahuja’s article suggests that given China’s continued aggression on the Dalai Lama succession issue, alongside the recent standoff on the border, Karmapa’s importance has once again come to the fore. An invitation to him for his presence in the country can bolster India’s position against China.
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