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Why Drepung Gomang’s Expulsion of Geshe Atuk Tseten Threatens the Future of Tibetan Democracy









Tashi Delek to my fellow compatriots across the diaspora,



Writing to you from New York, where many of us have spent decades balancing our deep, inherited devotion to Tibetan Buddhism with an active participation in Western democratic structures, I find myself compelled to speak out on a matter of existential urgency for our exile community.



Like many of you, I have been closely tracking the recent political developments within the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) and our monastic centers. The decision by twenty-eight senior religious heads of Drepung Gomang Monastery to unilaterally expel Geshe Lharampa Atuk Tseten from the monastery's administrative and welfare structure is not merely an internal monastic disciplinary issue. It is a profound constitutional crisis. It represents a dangerous regression that directly tramples upon the democratic rights of the Tibetan public, and we must call it what it is: an unauthorized, institutional veto over the ballot box.



 Overriding the Will of the Voters



Let us look logically and soberly at the timeline of events. Geshe Lharampa Atuk Tseten—a scholar of the highest standing—was democratically re-elected by the Gelug faithful to represent them as a Member of Parliament in the 18th Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile (TPiE). The electorate looked at his record, his willingness to question institutional overreach, and his policy stances, and they handed him a mandate.



When a monastic administrative body steps in a mere two months after a legislative session to strip an MP of his lifelong institutional standing because of political speech delivered on the parliament floor, they are not just punishing an individual. They are nullifying the votes of the thousands of Tibetan citizens who put him there.



By overriding the democratic choice of the voters, the monastic authorities are setting a perilous precedent. They are establishing a paradigm where a traditional, non-elected religious council holds supreme veto authority over democratic election results. If we allow this to pass unchallenged, we are signaling that our democracy is subordinate to institutional gatekeeping.



 Separation of Sacred Devotion and Secular Governance



His Holiness the Dalai Lama spent decades of his life painstakingly building our democratic institutions, explicitly devolving his political authority in 2011 so that the Tibetan freedom struggle could rely on a robust, secular democratic system. He did this because he understood that for a stateless nation to survive in the modern West, it must be governed by institutional transparency, accountability, and the rule of law.



When Geshe Atuk Tseten utilized the floor of the TPiE this past March to critique the political influence of the State Oracle's pronouncements and question senior bureaucrats within the Ganden Phodrang, he was executing his civic duty as an MP. Parliament must remain a sanctuary for free, unhindered legislative debate. If an elected representative can be spiritually and socially excommunicated for criticizing unelected administrative staff, then our legislative checks and balances are entirely compromised.



We can maintain our ultimate spiritual loyalty to the Dharma and our profound reverence for His Holiness while simultaneously demanding that our political structures remain democratic and free from intimidation. Conflating a critique of political bureaucrats with spiritual heresy is a classic weaponization of religion to shield authority from accountability.



 Stand with Our Democratic Institutions



As Tibetans living in the West, we see firsthand how fragile democracy can be when institutional norms are eroded. We cannot stand by while the foundational principles of our exile governance are dismantled.



A global community petition has been launched on Change.org to demand that the leadership of Drepung Gomang Monastery immediately revoke this wrongful, politically motivated expulsion and restore Geshe Atuk Tseten’s standing.



I urge my fellow educated, forward-thinking Tibetans—and all who care about the integrity of our charter—to visit the link below immediately:



[Change.org Petition to Revoke the Wrongful Expulsion of Geshe Atuk Tseten](https://www.change.org/p/petition-requesting-drepung-monastery-to-revoke-the-wrongful-expulsion-of-atuk-tseten)



Please add your signature to this petition. Share it across your community networks, your local Tibetan Association chats, and your professional forums. Let us collectively signal to both the monastic leadership and the political establishment that the Tibetan public will not accept the subversion of our democratic franchise.



In unity and solidarity for the truth.