Dalai Lama for Bharat Ratna?

An all-party forum has written to the Central government, expressing support for the Tibetan cause, asking it to grant the Dalai Lama, the country's highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna. In a move that could incite Chinese ire, the forum also urged the government to permit the Dalai Lama to speak to a joint session of Parliament. The leader of the Tibetan Buddhists, the Dalai Lama, is a highly esteemed religious leader worldwide.
 

 The All-Party Indian Parliamentary Forum for Tibet, which consists of MPs from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Biju Janata Dal (BJD), and Janata Dal (United), is said to have sent the letter. At their second meeting this month, the forum unanimously adopted a resolution in favor of the plan, and then sent the request to the administration.

Securing the signatures of approximately 80 MPs
According to reports, the 10-member committee has collected the signatures of some 80 Members of Parliament in support of the Dalai Lama's Bharat Ratna candidacy, which it intends to present to the President and Prime Minister in the days ahead.

Talking to media, Rajya Sabha MP Sujeet Kumar said, "The group has been demanding Bharat Ratna for Dalai Lama and has secured signatures of more than 80 MPs on a memorandum seeking the same which it would submit once the forum is able to gather the signatures of 100 parliamentarians. Signatories on the memorandum also included MPs from opposition parties."

"We have initiated a signature campaign to award Bharat Ratna to His Holiness Dalai Lama. Many MPs have come forward and some of them have sent video messages supporting the campaign. We will be writing to the Speaker of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha to convene a joint sitting, which will be addressed by His Holiness," Kumar said.