India, July 3 -- A day after China said that the Dalai Lama's successor would be chosen following its seal of approval, India dismissed the assertion, saying the only authority to decide on the Incarnation of the Dalai Lama would be the the established institution and the Dalai Lama himself.

Union Minister Kiren Rijiju on Thursday called the Dalai Lama the "most important and defining institution" of the Buddhists, and said nobody else has the right to make such an important decision.

"And all those who follow the Dalai Lama feel that the Incarnation is to be decided by the established convention and as per the wish of the Dalai Lama himself. Nobody else has the right to decide it except him and the conventions in place," Rijiju was quo...