New Delhi, India (BBN)-Narendra Modi personally chose to make Bhutan the destination of his maiden foreign trip as India Prime Minister.
The visit is likely to take place in mid-June and a multi-ministerial team of government of India officials left for Bhutan this noon on an Advance Security Liaison to prepare for Modi's visit, reports FirstPost.
Modi zeroed in on Bhutan for this unique and unprecedented honour (no previous Indian PM has made Bhutan the destination of his or her first foreign trip) for a variety of reasons.
Bhutan had conducted Operation All Clear in December 2003 against India-specific insurgents and thrown them out in this military operation – something that no neighbour has ever done for India.
Apart from Bhutan being a zero-problem model neighbour, Thimphu also offers a zero-problem destination for the Indian PM's maiden foreign visit.
Bangladesh and Sri Lanka—two other Saarc neighbours which were discussed in the PMO and the MEA as possible destinations of Modi's first foreign trip—would have created problems domestically.
Modi's visit to Bangladesh at this time would be meaningless till the two sides make a forward movement on the two pending bilateral issues – Land Boundary Agreement and Teesta water accord, both of which are being stiffly opposed by the state government of West Bengal.
Besides, the BJP itself opposed the LBA when the UPA government had pitched for it strongly last year.
Visiting Sri Lanka at this point of time by the Indian PM would have been like stoning a beehive as it would have been vociferously condemned by all political parties in Tamil Nadu.
Therefore, neighbours like Bangladesh and Sri Lanka were best avoided at this point of time.
Naturally, the PMO and the MEA would like Modi to travel to these countries at a more opportune time whenever that window was to open up for Modi.
Modi had other choices too from a list of major powers like Russia, Japan and China for his maiden foreign trip.
The first of this list—Russia—eliminated itself by its weird move of lifting its embargo on selling weapons and defence equipment to Pakistan. Japan and China could have been possible destinations, the former because it is the only major power with zero bilateral problems with India and the latter because Chinese premier Li Keqiang had unveiled an important piece of diplomatic symbolism last year by making India the destination of his first foreign visit.
But then given the deep distrust and bitter rivalry between Japan and China, choosing either of them for Modi's first foreign trip would have upset the other.
Modi could have done to China what China did to India by making China the first stop of his foreign tour and then traveling on to Japan for his second leg of his maiden foreign tour like Li did.
The Chinese PM had landed in India first and from New Delhi had proceeded to Pakistan.
But then this move too wouldn’t have been non-controversial which Modi wanted for his first foreign trip.
Thus, Bhutan was found to be the ideal choice. It also shows that while Modi continues to keep foreign policy high up in his scheme of things, his immediate focus is on contiguous neighbours.
The last prime ministerial visit from India to Bhutan was six years ago when Manmohan Singh had visited the country in May 2008.
Top Bhutanese leadership, including the King and members of the royal family and his prime minister have been visiting India regularly.
The China factor is an important part of the conversation on anything related to Bhutan these days. Bhutan shares 605-kilometer border with India and 470-km border with China.
Beijing is very keen on establishing full-fledged diplomatic relations with Bhutan and open its embassy in Thimphu.
The Chinese move has made many in the Indian strategic establishment jittery.
Modi choosing Bhutan as the first destination of his foreign trip would go a long way in reassuring the Bhutanese about India, particularly after the UPA government’s faux pas of cancelling fuel subsidies to Bhutan last year, only to revoke the cancellation shortly thereafter.
The extremely close political ties between India and Bhutan are also reflected in their bilateral trade as India is Bhutan's largest trading partner and accounts for 98 percent of its exports and 90 percent of its imports.
Besides, Bhutan is set to be a major source of hydel power for India in a few years as India is set to reap dividends of its $1.2 billion worth investment on the construction of three hydropower projects in Bhutan having a combined installed capacity of 1,400 megawatts.
Energy, infrastructure, rail connectivity and trade and investments will be high on Modi’s agenda in his talks with the Bhutanese leaders.
BBN/AS-07June14-1:40pm (BST)
