Rijiju, a practising Buddhist, and Rajiv Ranjan Singh, a fellow Union minister, are representing the Government of India at the Dalai Lama’s 90th birthday celebrations in Dharamshala on July 6.The minister said that the birthday event is a religious function and has nothing to do with politics.Mao reiterated China’s stand that the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama, the second-high priest of Tibetan Buddhism, has to comply with rigorous religious rituals and historical conventions in line with domestic search, lots drawn from a ‘golden urn’ and the central government’s approval.The present 14th Dalai Lama went through this procedure and was approved by the then-central government, she said.The reincarnation of the Dalai Lama must uphold those principles and follow religious rituals, historical conventions, Chinese law and regulations, she said.Mao’s comments related to the improvement and development of relations refer to the efforts by both India and China to normalisation of ties after over four years of freeze following the Eastern Ladakh standoff.The two countries resumed ties after a meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit at Kazan in Russia last year followed by a series of high-level meetings.The resumption of the Kailash and Mansarovar Yatra for Indian pilgrims, which began recently, is stated to be the first step initiated by the two countries to normalise ties.
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