"Two Chithue visits Chennai students"
By Tenzin Lhadon
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On Monday, two parliamentarian, Dolma Tsering and Ven Choedak Gyatso paid a visit to Tibetan students studying in Chennai to make them politically aware of the changes in the Tibetan administration after His Holiness the Dalai Lama devolved his political authority to the elected Tibetan leadership.

Parliamentarian Dolma Tsering talked on the history and struggle of the Tibetan people and moreover she stressed on busy schedule of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and his everyday challenges to bring up the issue of Tibet on a global platform.

She said, “His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s stepping down from the head of the state doesn’t make him any less important than he was before. He is more than our leader and our spiritual guidance and he will always remain our most precious person in our heart.”

Quoting from the verses of milarepa she emphasized that in every society or in any government to function successfully need three basic principles via honesty, compassion or kindness and proper democracy.

Ven. Choedak Gyatso talked in detail about the amendments made in the preamble and article 1 of the Charter. He also mentioned the rest of the articles which went under change including article 19.

He said, “His Holiness the Dalai Lama has ratified the amendment to the charter of Tibetans delegating his administrative and political authorities to the democratically elected leaders of the Central Tibetan Administration.”

He also said that it is the opening of a new chapter in the history of Tibetan democracy and this landmark is turning point in democracy that necessitates the members of the 15th Tibetan Parliament to take greater responsibility than ever before.

“It is extremely important that we ensure the continuity of Central Tibetan Administration and our struggle until the issue of Tibet has been successfully resolved,” His Holiness the Dalai Lama said in one of his message.

Rinchen Namgyal, a student of Loyola and the president of TSAM said, “they both emphasized that His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s intention to devolve political authority was neither to shirk his responsibility nor because his was disheartened. It was his wish to devolve authority solely for the benefit of the Tibetan people in the long run and we believe in his decision.”

The parliamentarian also answered questions from the students at the end of their speech and asked the students to study hard by upholding the good behaviors in colleges and to keep struggling for Tibet.

The event was coordinated by the Tibetan Students Association of Madras (TSAM) which is a non-profit and a student based association in Chennai. More than 130 students attended the event and enthusiastically participated in the discussion with the two parliamentarians for more than 4 hours.