By Phurbu Thinley
Dharamsala, June 9: Exiled Tibetan leader His Holiness the Dalai Lama has reportedly turned down Prof. Samdhong Rinpoche’s offer to step down from the post of Prime Minister (Kalon Tripa) of the Tibet’s government in exile.
“The Rinpoche requested the Dalai Lama to accept his offer to quit office and initiate the process to elect the next prime minister. However, His Holiness turned down the request on the plea that it would send a wrong signal to the world community,” IANS reported Tuesday quoting a source in the Tibetan Government-in-exile as saying.
The report indicated that the Tibetan PM was reportedly upset over differences among the cabinet ministers regarding his decision making powers and ongoing reforms.
Sources told IANS that the Rinpoche, who formed the 13th Kashag (cabinet) after he was directly elected the prime minister by an overwhelming majority for the second time in 2006, “conveyed his feelings to the Nobel laureate before his visit to foreign countries early last month”.
However, while admitting that the offer to step down was made, Rinpoche denied the move was made over administrative differences in his eight-member cabinet.
“The move to quit the office was just to provide an opportunity to any young Tibetan leader to take on responsibly,” Rinpoche said.
“It is wrong to say that I offered to step down due to difference of opinion (among cabinet colleagues). I wanted to give any young leader a chance to take charge of the sacrosanct post. I moved the proposal (to advance the election for the prime minister’s office) but it did not get unanimously approval. So it was dropped,” the Rinpoche said.
Prof. Rinpoche’s move to step down comes more than two years before the completion of his current term. His term will end in August 2011.
Sources also told IANS that the Rinpoche convened a special meeting of his colleagues here on June 7 to convey to them that his proposal to step down was declined by the Dalai Lama.
Tibetan Government-in-Exile has been based in India since it was re-established outside Tibet after China took complete control of the country in 1959.
Speaking on Saturday to a group of some 50 Jewish students from United States and Canada, Rinpoche, who is also a highly recognised Buddhist scholar and revered reincarnate lama, said Tibetan exiles “unfortunately” elected him in 2001 and “very very unfortunately” re-elected him in 2006 as a directly elected head of the exile government.
Rinpoche, who is now 70 years old, explained that the “unfortunate” was actually the word used by His Holiness the Dalai Lama after Tibetans elected “another old monk” in 2001 to lead the democratic exile government instead of finding a “young, educated and energetic lay person” for the post.
“My second consecutive term will be completed in August 2011. After that there will be another prime minister. Our Tibetan Charter bars a candidate from serving more than two terms,” Rinpoche said.
“I am hoping Tibetans will elect a young, educated and energetic lay person, and preferably a young female as a Tibetan Prime Minister in the next election,” Rinpoche said.
Rinpoche explained the visiting students that the Tibetan government-in-exile has two primary tasks- firstly to find solution to the issue of Tibet and secondly to look after the welfare of the exile Tibetan community.
Under his administration eight rounds of talks between the representatives of the Dalai Lama and Beijing were held in an effort to find a negotiated solution to the Tibetan problem. The talks, however, failed to yield any positive outcome and instead came to an abrupt halt after China categorically rejected a memorandum on genuine autonomy for Tibetan people presented by the Tibetan side during the eighth round of talks in Beijing.
Rinpoche Saturday said his government would continue to follow the Middle-Way policy of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to find a peaceful solution to the Tibetan issue.
