Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Bhutan, even as the election campaign gets underway in India, signals the level to which New Delhi values its relationship with the tiny Himalayan kingdom. Modi was received warmly by his counterpart, Bhutan’s newly elected PM, Tshering Tobgay, and he later called on King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, who conferred on him the Order of Druk Gyalpo. Modi is the first foreign national to be honoured with that.
On the eve of the January elections, the King of Bhutan visited India in November last year and a month later, launched the plan to build a mindfulness city in Gelephu, a town in southern Bhutan. This will be a special economic zone to attract investment, as well as a vehicle for the country to advance its plans for economic transformation.
In March, PM Tobgay visited New Delhi and met both the president and the prime minister. This has been followed up almost immediately by a return visit of Modi to Bhutan. All these are an indicator of the effort made by the leaderships of both countries to tend to what is viewed as an extremely important foreign relationship.