For 2nd successive year, India rolls out red carpet for Bhutan king

NEW DELHI: For the second successive year, India will host its best friend abroad — the king of Bhutan, Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck — beginning Monday, hoping to send a signal to neighbours about the importance of consistency in bilateral relat ions.

Namgyel and wife Jetsun Pema were in India last January when the king was the chief guest at the Republic Day celebrations. The visit this year comes as most countries in South Asia face political turmoil.

While largely ceremonial, the monarchy in Bhutan still retains influence in the country’s politics. This is also Namgyel’s maiden visit to Delhi after the political party friendly to India was voted to power in the parliamentary elections in the world’s most nascent democracy.

In the run-up to the polls, Delhi had acted tough and cut the subsidies to petroleum products to Bhutan to put pressure on the then government that was titling towards China. One of the highlights of the king’s five-day visit will be his stay at the renovated ‘Dwarka’ suite in the Rashtrapati Bhavan. Namgyel will be the first foreign head of state in nearly two decades to stay at the suite.

The invite reflects the close bilateral ties and honour that Delhi wants to extend to the king, officials in the ministry of external affairs (MEA) said. Former president Pratibha Patil, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and party vice-president Rahul Gandhi had attended Namgyel’s coronation in 2008 at Thimphu.

All the visiting heads of state during the past two decades have stayed in premier Delhi hotels during their visits to India. Prior to that, in the decades after Indian independence, many visiting heads of state, including Namgyel’s predecessor, had stayed at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Namgyel will be accompanied by the country’s foreign minister, home minister and economic affairs minister, according to a statement from the MEA.