The 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, deserves to be in this hallowed company for being a messenger of peace — as well as of laughter — as the spiritual head of Buddhism. Like Mother Teresa, another recipient of Bharat Ratna (1980), the Dalai Lama has made India his home since his escape to India in 1959 after China’s ‘annexation’ of Tibet.
To be ‘stateless’ is no reason why the Bharat Ratna should elude him. India — and geopolitics — has come a long way since GoI issued an advisory note in 2018 ‘discouraging’ its officials from attending events organised by the Tibetan government-in-exile. For a country growing in global stature, India should also make room for its highest honour to be conferred to deserving non-Indians. If, for instance, France can award its highest award, the National Order of the Legion of Honour (Légion d’Honneur) to worthies like J R D Tata (1983), Satyajit Ray (1987) and Ratan Tata (2016), the Bharat Ratna surely has the value and heft to be awarded to deserving foreigners.
The Dalai Lama certainly measures up to the criterion of providing ‘exceptional service/performance of the highest order’ to fellow humans over decades. Conferring him the Ratna will also underline India’s talent to value remarkable persons — irrespective of any external criticism that as a sovereign, self-thinking nation, it can maturely handle.