By Tenzin Dharpo

DHARAMSHALA, April 11: The Tibetan leader His Holiness the Dalai Lama today touched down in Dharamshala after a weeklong trip to the Indian capital and a short trip to Dehradun where he inaugurated a retreat centre. The welcome entourage at the Kangra Airport was missing key officials; Sikyong Lobsang Sangay and Speaker Penpa Tsering who by CTA protocol receives the Tibetan leader at the Gaggal Airport.

The Minister of Finance, Tsering Dhondup who recently took over the reigns of the Department of Security following the resignation of Kalon Dongchung Ngodup on April 6, was at the Kangra Airport along with staffs from the Dalai Lama’s private office.

The absence of the two leaders, according to a reliable source, was as per the Dalai Lama’s instruction not to receive him. The source told Phayul on the condition of anonymity that His Holiness “told the two to stay away from receiving him recently”, and also added that the attempts by the two concerned to tender apologies to the Dalai Lama has also been “not received in a proper light”.

Following the much speculated debacle over the conduct of the two 2016 Sikyong candidates over the course of the campaign season and the inadequacies pointed out in their tenure holding their respective offices, censure from all spheres of the Tibetan polity were meted against the two concerned.

His Holiness, in a public speech recently, expressed dismay over the performance of the Central Tibetan Administration. “It would be 'grand on the outside but shallow inside' if we put on grand proceedings here while there are lagging in our work on the ground. I may yet live for ten or fifteen years more, you all have the responsibilities now,” the Tibetan leader said at the centenary celebrations of the Tibetan Medical and Astrological Institute here. The public censure was followed by the state oracle prophesizing similar sentiments.

The two Sikyong candidates held a joint press conference on April 7 where both the incumbent Sikyong and Speaker of TPiE expressed remorse and tendered formal apologies to the Tibetan people and His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

The Tibetan leader returned today to Dharamshala after a weeklong trip to Delhi where he graced various venues like the Indian Institute for Technology, Springdale school, Jawaharlal Nehru University, among others.