Govt has banned Dorje residing in US from visiting Sikkim monastery
In a major setback to India, the 17th Karmapa Ogyen Trinley Dorje (32), who has fled to the US, is now negotiating with the Indian Government interlocutors for parity of status with the Dalai Lama and permission to visit the Rumtek monastery in Sikkim. India has given political asylum to the Dalai Lama but the Karmapa was living on a refugee card. The Karmapa is reportedly acting at the behest of the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) and his stand has irreversibly altered over six decades long India’s Tibetan card to its disadvantage. India has barred the entry of the Karmapa to Rumtek monastery, the biggest monastery of the Kagyu sect that he heads fearing him to be a Chinese agent. Earlier, he was not allowed to even visit Sikkim, but the NDA Government had changed the rules in 2017.
The Karmapa and CTA have ostensibly colluded to sideline the Dalai Lama, the tallest leader in the Tibetan Buddhism hierarchy, sources said.
The Karmapa is staying at sprawling farmhouse of a Chinese couple in New Jersey from April 2017 onwards. Although the Karmapa has hinted at least twice that he will come back to India but he has not returned despite repeated assurances to the Indian officials. He has not specified a timeline and does not have any intention to return to India, Government sources said.
The Karmapa is effectively the second most important spiritual leader in Tibetan Buddhist hierarchy after the 14th Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso. The Karmapa is also the singular Tibetan Buddhist monk recognised both by the Chinese Government and the Dalai Lama.
Acting smart, the Karmapa, a recipient of a refugee card from India and an accused in a money laundering case, wants the Government of India to sideline the Dalai Lama, top sources said.
The CTA receives hefty annual grants (USD 40 million annually) from the US State Department as well as Rs 800 million from the Union Home Ministry. The CTA has been persisting with the Union Home Ministry for last 10 years not to treat Karmapa as a foreign agent.
The CTA led by President Lobsang Sangay had been meeting Indian officials to make them believe that the Karmapa is not a foreign agent and will return to India if provided travel documents. Apparently, the CTA successfully lobbied with the Government to relax the travel restrictions put on the Karmapa by the MHA on the recommendations of the agencies. The travel restrictions on the Karmapa were waived a few months before his flight to the US last year. A refugee requires prior permission from the MHA every time he or she intends to travel abroad and needs to take visa while returning.
The US, which has also been liberal in providing assistance to Tibetans in the past is now embracing the Karmapa, is providing him assistance and security cover during his stay there.
Interestingly, the US had remained in denial mode by not granting visas to an elected leader from Western India with the potential to lead the country but is hosting the Karmapa, wanted in India in a money laundering case.
The CTA has consistently backed the Karmapa and countered suspicion within the Indian establishment of him being a foreign agent. The Indian establishment has been suspecting him to be Chinese agent, a reason why he was denied travel documents earlier. “The Government could not make a distinction between the CTA’s claims denying Karmapa’s loyalty to China and his other foreign connections,” an official said explaining what went wrong.
As a counter-measure to Karmapa’s flight to the US, the Centre has appointed Indian Foreign Service officer Siddarth Mallik as an interlocutor for the CTA to keep tabs on the movement of the Tibetan leaders to foreign shores.