The Sikkim government request to allow Ogyen Trinley Dorje, one of the two claimants to be Karmapa of the Kagyu sect of Buddhism, to visit the Rumtek monastery has put the Centre in a bind.
Sikkim chief minister Pawan Chamling requested union home minister Rajnath Singh last week to allow the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa visit the monastery as large numbers of Sikkimese followers want to see him Rumtek which is the main seat of Karma Kagyu or Black Hat sect of Tibetan Buddhism having over 700 monasteries worldwide.
The Centre has maintained consistently that the 30-year-old Karmapa’s activities are connected to Chinese shenanigans since his arrival in India in 2000. Intelligence agencies have been watchful of Ogyen whom they refer to as Ugyen Trinley Dorje or “UTD” in secret files and believe Beijing anointed him to serve its long term ulterior motive of changing the mindset of Buddhist population in favour of China.