Dalai Lama deserves Bharat Ratna: India’s former Union minister Chanderesh Kumari
DHARAMSALA 3 Feb: New Delhi should confer Bharat Ratna to the Tibetan Spiritual leader His Holiness the Dalai Lama, says former Union minister Chanderesh Kumari.
“He has the highest award in the world, the Nobel Peace Prize. Indian government should follow suit. This is my personal opinion as an Indian and a resident of Kangra,” the former Union Minister said when asked whether New Delhi should award Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian award to the Dalai Lama.
The former Union Minister, who is a member of the Kangra and Jodhpur royal families made the remarks while marking 50 years of active politics and social services to the people of Kangra with her husband Late Raja Sahib Aditya Dev Chand Katoch on Wednesday.
“The Dalai Lama has done so much to put Kangra and Himachal Pradesh on the world map. I feel he deserves it. It is his right and I think he should get it.”
While she said that “ I can not tell Mr Modi because I am not in his party,” she concluded by assuring that when Congress comes to power, she will pursue it.
She now joins the likes of former Himachal Chief Minister Shanta Kumar, Bihar Chief Minister Nitesh Kumar, Gopalkrishna Gandhi, the grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, the Tibet Support Group of Arunachal Pradesh, (TSGAP) Indian Parliamentary Forum of Tibet and the Rashtriya Syawamsevak Sangh (RSS) among others who have all urged new Delhi to honour the Dalai Lama with Bharat Ratna.
To date, the highest civilian award of India has been conferred to only two non-Indians, Baloch leader Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan(1987) and Nelson Mandela(1990).
