India has for long stated that the process of naming the successor is a long standing tradition that the Dalai Lama undertakes and no third party has a role to play here.

The Dalai Lama has become one of the world’s most recognizable figures while leading a Tibetan diaspora through their struggle for autonomy and opposition of China’s control of Tibet. He has not named a successor, but he says they will be born in the “free world” — outside China.

A day after the 14th Dalai Lama announced his succession plan, India on Thursday said the next Tibetan spiritual leader would be "chosen only by the present one and with the