In September 2015, he had thanked the Dalai Lama for the latter’s birthday wishes to him. The phone call to the Tibetan spiritual leader and its public announcement have diplomatic significance given that Beijing calls the Dalai Lama a “splittist”. Thereafter, he had a “brief meeting” with the Dalai Lama, sources said, in the first year of his term itself. In April 2017, the government allowed him to travel to Tawang, the birthplace of the sixth Dalai Lama. Following the border standoff with Chinese troops in Doklam in 2017, the government became very careful about engaging with the Dalai Lama.

Source: Indian Express July 06, 2021 22:42 UTC