(TibetanReview.net, May20, 2014) – The Dalai Lama on May 17 congratulated Mr Narendra Modi for his Bharatiya Janata Party’s “decisive victory” in the general election whose results had been announced the day before. He called India the world’s largest democratic nation and the most stable one in South Asia with a deep tradition of Ahimsa (non-violence).
Writing to the party’s prime ministerial nominee, the Dalai Lama said he “took pride in citing India as a living example of unity in diversity, an ancient country in which all the major world’s religious traditions flourish and from which other countries could learn.”
Earlier, on May 16 itself, the head of the exile Tibetan administration at Dharamsala, Sikyong Lobsang Sangay congratulated Mr Modi and his party for their landslide victory in the 16th Lok Sabha elections. He also thanked the outgoing United Progressive Alliance government, led by the Indian National Congress party, for unwavering support for the Tibetan people during its two full terms.
Also, on May 19, the Deputy Speaker of the Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile, Khenpo Sonam Tenphel, congratulated Mr Modi and his party for their historic win. He wrote to express the Tibetan people’s hope that the new prime minister will “not only maintain the tradition of support for the cause of Tibet but give the much needed strength to resolve the issue of Tibet in the interest of all.”
The Bharatiya Janata Party became the first party in India since 1984 to win an absolute majority on its own, although the party leads a coalition called the National Democratic Alliance.