Transcript of TV Interview of the President Pranab Mukherjee by Bhutan Broadcasting Service on the eve of his state visit to Bhutan
Interviewer: A very warm welcome to this exclusive show where I am going to interview none other than the Head of the State of India and the President Shri Pranab Mukherjee. I am really honoured to have this interview with Mr. President.
Sir, first of all I would like to thank you for this rare and exclusive interview for us and also inviting us all the way from Thimphu to New Delhi.
My first question is a very obvious one, Mr. President. What is the purpose of your visit to Bhutan? I mean you could have chosen any of the countries in the region. Does it indicate ever-growing relations between the two countries?
Hon. President: Thank you for coming all the way from Thimphu to Delhi to interview me.
Bhutan is special to India and our relationship has grown over the years. We share culture as well as history. Over the years, the Kings (Druk Gyalpos) and Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru built the relationship and based it on a solid foundation.
You have asked why I have chosen Bhutan as the destination for my foreign visit. Of course, I could have chosen any other country. But as I mentioned, we have a special relationship with Bhutan which cannot be compared with any other. This is reflected in the fact that the first foreign visit by Bhutanese Prime Minister Tobgay after his election was to Delhi. Similarly, the first foreign visit after assumption of office by Prime Minister Narendra Modi was to Bhutan.
As I mentioned, over the years we have built a strong relationship and it is unique.
Interviewer: Mr. President, it is often described that Bhutan-India relationship is exemplary, and sometimes it is also felt it is rhetoric.
Hon. President: No, I do not think it is rhetoric. Our relations are exemplary. The cooperation we have with Bhutan and the close relationship, our common security, the common approach of helping our people, the common objective to share experiences, resources and expertise with each other have placed our relations in a unique position. We are participating in the developmental projects of Bhutan without any conditionality.
Interviewer: Sir, we also enjoy very close ties of friendship at the highest leadership level. How have the personal relations and the close ties of friendship among and between the leaders of the two countries helped strengthen the relations between the two countries?
Hon. President: Of course, the mutual trust, confidence, acquaintance and intimacy amongst the leaders have helped build the closer relationship, and this is reflected in various facets of activities - economic cooperation, political cooperation, strategic cooperation etc.
Interviewer: Sir, on a more personal note, we were informed that you enjoy a very special friendship with our Fourth King. How would you describe that?
Hon. President: I do not know how to describe it but to be very frank, I was also in public life during the later part of His Majesty’s rule in Bhutan. For more than four decades, I have been Member of Parliament and Minister in the Government. Starting from Shrimati Indira Gandhi to Dr. Manmohan Singh, I have served all the Congress Prime Ministers in different capacities.
His Majesty the Fourth King came to India many times during this period. I too visited Bhutan on several occasions. And over these years of discussing, sharing common perceptions, it would not be wrong to say that I have developed a close personal relationship with His Majesty. Not only His Majesty, the Fourth King but even the present King because I saw him as young boy when he used to accompany his father. Since then I have seen how he has grown. Since the days of the Fourth King, my wife, my daughter and other family members have also visited Bhutan at the invitation of the Royal Family several times. So I must admit that I am fortunate to have this personal relationship with the Royal Family of Bhutan.
Interviewer: Your Excellency, when was the first contact that you have had with His Majesty the Fourth King, and particularly do you remember any incidents to being closer to His Majesty the King?
Hon. President: I was a Minister of the Government of India for a very long period of time. And most of the times I served in the economic Ministries – either in the Planning Commission or in the Finance Ministry. I also served in the Defence Ministry. So in each Ministerial activity, I have come across His Majesty the Fourth King.
I have had a role in determining Plan Assistance. As you are aware, from the very first plan of Bhutan, India has provided assistance. The joint projects which we have undertaken especially for hydroelectric power have also brought close intimacy between us.
The remarkable role which His Majesty played in weeding out a section of the extremist group ULFA which took shelter in Bhutan in 2003 is admirable. Though I was not in Government at that point of time, every Indian felt highly indebted to him. Naturally, cooperation was further strengthened under the Government immediately after that. So I have interacted at various stages. It is not one or two occasions, it is multiple occasions.
Interviewer: At the leadership level we enjoy very close ties of friendship. How would you describe people-to-people contact between the two countries?
Hon. President: We are very close. Currently more than 4,400 students are studying in India. Almost three/fourths of the Bhutanese student population are studying in India. I am not merely talking of education. A large number of Bhutanese people have been trained - industrialists, civil servants, technocrats, teachers, doctors, engineers. There is also our bonding through Buddhism – India is the land of Buddha and Bhutanese are worshippers and believers in Buddhism. We have had religious and cultural bonds for centuries.
In the contemporary period, there is a close relationship between our people in all these activities. I am confident that if we have more communication - currently communication is difficult, and with direct flights from Mumbai to Paro, a large number of tourists and others will come and go.
India provides about 60 per cent of tourists to Bhutan. We also receive a large number of Bhutanese people amidst us on different occasions including for the purpose of tourism.
Moreover, we have also witnessed during the period of His Majesty the Fourth King a unique transformation of Bhutan. India believes in democracy, the rule of law and people’s rights. I saw with my own eyes how an absolute Monarch, voluntarily abdicated his power, encouraged people to participate in democracy and established a beautiful Constitution. Before drafting that Constitution, the King resorted to an exemplary mechanism.
He consulted a large number of people. He established an excellent Constitution, give the right to people, voluntarily abdicated his power as an absolute ruler and very successfully conducted elections through which multiparty government and not one party government has been established. All these have close impact and influence over the people of our two countries.
Interviewer: Excellency, moving on to politics, India is the largest democracy in the world, Bhutan is an emerging democracy. What would your opinion be on how and where Bhutan will be? Particularly from what you have just said I believe you are indicating that Bhutan is going on the right track. …(Inaudible)…
Hon. President: The track is to be chosen by each country itself. The path which they would like to follow is for the people, and of course in Bhutan, the enlightened Monarch under whose guidance they are transacting their business. It is for them to decide. The Bhutanese people and its leadership’s behaviour clearly demonstrates that democracy has taken deep roots. Though it is young, though it is emerging, it has taken deep root in the minds of the people.
Interviewer: Excellency, India is a growing global power and we are very happy to see that India assumes its rightful place in the global arena. How much would this benefit Bhutan?
Hon. President: Of course with the growing strength of India, Bhutan will also benefit. We want to share our growth with others. We believe in development together. We believe no country in the world can today prosper in isolation. It will have to be prosperity for all. It will have to be development for all.
If India has more income, naturally a part of it will also go for developmental activities of the Bhutanese people. If India develops more expertise and technology in different areas - healthcare, education etc., that will benefit the people of Bhutan. Because our relationship is so close, intimate and closely interlinked, we cannot think in isolation.
We do not feel we are just neighbours, as I mentioned earlier, our relationship is special.
If Bhutan prospers, I feel happy because I will be benefited. If India prospers, naturally Bhutan will feel glad and happy that Bhutan will be benefited by this prosperity. This is the type of relations we have.
We have excellent cooperation in hydel power. Nearly Rs.1,000 crore of Bhutanese exports are from power. The additional power generation through three more projects, which will be completed by 2018, will bring additional revenue and additional export earnings. It is a unique cooperation. There is no conditionality. There is no concept of donor and recipient. Our relationship is totally dependent on mutual trust, confidence, understanding and friendship.
Interviewer: Excellency, democracy is an ideal concept of governance. But the thing with a democracy is that every five years the government would change and the entire relationship would change. How would such a change in India impact Bhutan?
Hon. President: You have noticed that for the last thirty years from 1990s, there have been several governments in India – Congress government, Left Front coalition government, BJP government, again Congress led coalition government, and now BJP government - but there is no change. That is because our relationship with Bhutan cuts across the party lines.
There is broad consensus among Indian political parties about our foreign relations. But especially in respect to our special relationship with Bhutan, there is consensus and unanimity that we must maintain this special relationship. Our Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi, by inviting all the SAARC leaders to his swearing ceremony, conveyed the message that we want to build close relations with all the SAARC countries. By choosing Bhutan as his first destination for a foreign visit, he conveyed the message that Bhutan has a special place in India.
Democracy means change. Political parties, ruling classes, they change. That is the beauty of democracy. But basic fundamental policies over which there is broad consensus do not change.
Interviewer: Sir, India is Bhutan’s biggest development partner; it is also by far the largest donor for Bhutan. The Bhutanese government and the people are aware of that, but reportedly at times, the funds don’t get released in a timely manner. Is it because of bureaucratic hurdles, because we know that the bureaucratic wheel grinds slowly as they say?
Hon. President: I think Bhutan’s economy is progressing reasonably well. The type of problems which you are talking of, sometimes happens because of the time taken for the disbursement of the support which India is expected to provide to Bhutan.
Last year in 2013, we gave additional Rs.300 crore to meet the requirement of Bhutan even when our financial year was closed and the budget was passed. This year, I understand more than Rs.900 crore have already been disbursed. Others which are due will also be disbursed in course of time. We have to follow certain financial rules and regulations. These rules and regulations are meant to ensure that money is being properly disbursed and disbursed money properly used so that there is no delay in implementing the projects in time.
This is the purpose of these rules. We always discuss problems which have cropped up and immediately address it. During my tenure as Finance Minister, or Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission or as External Affairs Minister, I addressed these problems several times.
Interviewer: Mr. President, as you have worked in the Finance Ministry also, you probably would be an expert in economics. If you are to give an advice to Bhutan to take care of its economic health, what would that be?
Hon. President: In what way Bhutan would like to develop its economy is a matter which will have to be primarily decided by the Parliament of Bhutan under the guidance of His Majesty the King. We have had such excellent relations and we understand each other’s views so closely that whenever we find any issue, we immediately enter into dialogue and try to resolve the issue.
And also if any problem arises in future, whether from the domestic arena or external sectors, we share our perceptions, discuss, have dialogue and find out how we can address the problems collectively keeping in mind the mutual interests of each other.
Interviewer: On that note, Mr. President, I would like to thank you very much for your time. And I would of course like to wish you a very safe journey to Bhutan and I hope you will enjoy your stay in Bhutan.
Hon. President: I believe India-Bhutan relations will be considered a model relationship amongst neighbours. We do not have the concept of giver and taker. The relationship is one of partnership with the objective of development together, prosperity together, moving forward together. So that, each and everyone is an equal partner. Nobody is big, nobody is small. That is why we have sustained our relationship over a very long period of time. I am quite confident that this is understood and appreciated by the leaders of both the countries.
Thank you very much. I would like to convey through you my best wishes to the beautiful people of Bhutan and also to the government and the Monarch His Majesty the King, Her Majesty the Queen, and other members of the leadership there. Thank you.
(Concluded)
