In a meeting held at Phodong monastery today, the Karmapa Reception Committee and Phodong monastery management committee reiterated their appeal to the people to come out in large numbers to participate in the proposed rally and show support for the demand.
The rally will be held on September 26 at Gangtok and is scheduled to start from 10:30 am from Guards Ground, said the organisers.
“Through this rally, we want to bring focus to the long pending demand of Sikkim before the Centre to allow the 17th Gyalwa Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorjee to take his seat at Rumtek Dharma Chakra Centre”, said the two organisations in the meeting.
The organizers maintained that the demand is purely religious. “We appeal people from all sections of the society like government employees, students, NGOs, religious institutions and devotees to join the rally on September 26 so that our demand is heard by the authorities,” they said.
The meeting at Mangan was attended by former deputy Speaker Palden Lachungpa as the chief guest. Karmapa Reception Committee (Phodong) Gaching Bhutia, Panchayats, members of Phodong monastery committee, NGOs, senior citizens, representatives of Phodong Welfare Association, Kabi Welfare Association, Sikkim Sherpa Association, monks from various monasteries in North Sikkim and representatives from Lachen, Lachung and Chunthang had also attended the meeting.
In his address, the chief guest stressed that the movement was purely a political one. All communities should unite and contribute to make the movement successful, he said.
During the meeting, the organizers reminded the gathering about the long pending demand before the Centre to allow the 17th Karmapa to visit Sikkim and take his throne at Rumtek monastery.
Members from both the organisations requested the Centre to have faith on people of Sikkim. “It has been over 10 years since the Karmapa took refuge in India and the people of Sikkim have waited long enough for him to come here,” they said.
Welcoming the gathering, Phodong monastery Omzed, Chewang Lama highlighted that several memorandums have been sent by various organisations to the Centre on the issue.
“Our submissions have gone unheeded for the last several years. This is why we are organising a huge peace rally and everyone should support us”, said Lama.
During the meeting, the Zilla Panchayat members from Tingchim-Mangshila, Singhik and Panchayats from Romom-Tumlong, Lingdok, Ramthang-Tanek, Paney-Phensong along with Mangat Nagar Panchayat Z Bhutia and other NGOs expressed their full support on the issue.
All gave their assurances to mobilise people for the proposed rally on their own expenditure.
The Phodong meeting follows a series of preliminary meetings conducted jointly by various organisations and three major monasteries under Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism monasteries in Sikkim-Phodong monastery in North, Ralong monastery in South and Old Rumtek monastery in East.
The three major monasteries had joined hands together with Karmapa Reception Committee to throw life in the dormant demand pending with the Centre to allow the 17th Karmapa to take his rightful throne at Rumtek Dharma Chakra Centre.
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