Excelsior Correspondent
LEH, Oct 3: The three-day international Conference on the contribution of Padma Bhushan 19th Bakula Rinpoche titled “Kushok Bakula Rinpoche – A saint and a Statesman”, concluded at the CIBS auditorium, here today.
The Conference was organized by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), Ministry of External Affairs, and Government of India, in collaboration with Centre for Research on Ladakh, as a prelude to 19th Kuchok Bakula Rinpoche’s birth centenary celebrations scheduled in 2017.
Luminaries of scholars from Mongolia, Russia, USA., UK, China, France, Bangladesh participated in the conference besides many Ladakh speakers including Prof Dr Siddiq Wahid, senior journalist PP Wangchuk, IGP (retired) Tsering Phuntsog, Journalist and writer Tashi Morup, Dr Thupstan Norboo and Gelong Thupstan Paldan besides many others.
Former Indian Foreign Secretary Salman Haider, who was chief guest in the inaugural session, acknowledged Bakula’s contribution to bring Mongolia and India closer and becoming a prominent figure not in Ladakh alone but in the nation as a whole.
Member Parliament Ladakh, Thupstan Chhewang, stressed the need to educate younger generation about the role Bakula Rinpoche played at a very crucial period. Kushok Bakula Rinpoche’s lifelong and selfless service to Ladakh earned him the title of Head Lama of Ladakh, he added.
CLP leader and MLA Leh, Nawang Rigzin Jora termed Bakula as one of tallest Buddhist leaders of India and said his contributions to Ladakh cannot be forgotten for times to come. “If I am standing here today as the representative of the people of Ladakh I owe it to Kushok Bakula Rinpoche. I am carrying forward the legacy that he left. If I served 12 years as minister it was also because of Kushok Bakula because he was the one who gave us education and confidence,” Jora acknowledged.
Earlier, late Bakula’s former secretary Sonam Wanghuk Shakspo read out messages from Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, Vice President M Hamid Ansari and MP Dr Karan Singh. Academic Coordinator of the Centre for Research on Ladakh Nawang Tsering Shakspo presented the introductory remarks.
Kushok Bakula Rinpochey is considered as the architect of modern Ladakh because on the advice of India’s first Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Bakula had to step into politics in 1949 out of compulsion to serve the region. In the subsequent years and decades, he held several ministerial posts in J and K Government and was later elected unopposed as Lok Sabha MP from Ladakh for two terms. He also served as Indian Ambassador in Mongolia from 1990 to 2000. Late Kuchok Bakula Rinpoche is also remembered for his contribution to revive Buddhism in Mongolia and also to bring India and Mongolia closer. He passed away in 2003.
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