Lyonchhoen Jigmi Y Thinley talks to former Indian ambassadors to Bhutan at an informal gathering at the Bhutan embassy, New Delhi

8 February, 2010 - “If Bhutan is a subject of some degree of admiration around the world it was attributable to ‘the special benefits’ that Bhutan enjoyed through its ‘special relationship’ with India.”

Prime Minister Jigmi Y Thinley told former India’s ambassadors to Bhutan at an informal gathering at the Bhutan embassy in New Delhi yesterday.  “Each of you has considerably contributed in making Bhutan what it is today,” he told former ambassadors B S Das, I P Khosla, R Hiremath, Salman Haidar, A N Ram, Nareshwar Dayal, Vinod C Khanna, and Dalip Mehta.

Indian ambassadors to Bhutan have played an important role in the country’s development, shaping Indo-Bhutan relations, and generally lifting Bhutan’s profile in the international community.

“Each of you has been taken into confidence by our Kings.  Each of you has gone beyond your official responsibility to share your inner thoughts and giving very good advice.  And each of you has been a very important guide for Bhutan and our Kings and we thank you all for this.”

Bhutan, Lyonchhoen said, was being admired for various reasons – for its cautious and purposeful development, preserving its culture, GNH and for being a country where a young king relinquished the throne and gave the power to the people.

“His Majesty the 5th King has made “tremendous impacts” in the countries where His Majesty has travelled to.  Here, in India, our King enjoys a huge circle of friends across all sections - political leaders, bureaucrats, the media, NGOs and the business community.”

The prime minister said that his government had to bear the huge responsibility of ensuring the success of democracy and that any advice or guidance from the former ambassadors would be of great benefit to him.

“Being responsible for running the first democratically elected government, I feel the burden of not only running a successful government and fulfilling the pledges and commitment that we have made, but in ensuring that we set a good precedence for future governments,” he said. “That in the five years we hold office, we leave behind a kind of democracy that the people have confidence, that the people will want to cherish and that has taken roads in a way that becomes irreversible.”

B S Das, who was posted to Bhutan as India’s first ambassador in 1968, said there is an instant connectivity to each other the moment one is posted to Bhutan.  “This is rarely seen in other postings I know of at least.  We’ll always be carrying the message to the people of India that the relationship between Bhutan and India is something that’s exemplary, cherished and realised.”

All the ambassadors, he added, discussed their fond memories of Bhutan whenever they met each other in Delhi.