Seven months back, Muscat slapped us hard when Sultan Qaboos bin Said Al Said pulled out of the Republic Day celebrations. New Delhi went scurrying around for a chief guest.
Only Thimpu came to our rescue. For their act of solidarity, King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, and his wife Jestun Pema, underwent considerable humiliation on Twitter. “Aren’t they utterly, faltuIJ Why do they have to show up every year,” tweeps asked in condescending manner.
That’s when Syed Akbaruddin, the external affairs ministry spokesperson, tagged a piece on India-Bhutan relations in reply: King Jigme Dorji Wangchuk had come over in 1954, and King Jigme Sigme Wangchuk only twice, once in 1984 and then 2005. Period. What Akbaruddin tactfully left unstated was that if attending India’s R-Day makes one ‘faltu,’ Paris has sent their man four times since 1976.
Of course no one, even those enjoying immunity from the niceties of professional diplomacy, ever dreamt of insulting the French sending Chiraq (twice), Giscard d’Estaing, and Sarkozy. But when it comes to Bhutan, we’re back to doing what we do rather well; the left hand not knowing what the right is attempting, determined to botching up the only stable neighbourhood that we have. I
So, here we are, egging a loyal friend, neck deep in a general election, to align with China. For those joining in late, with one confounding move, Indian Oil, the State-owned behemoth has been told that subsidies hitherto given for supplies to Bhutan stand cancelled. The company hasn’t lost a minute to pass the burden on and prices of all domestic fuels have doubled!
Our unofficial explanation is that Bhutan’s Plan has ended on June 30 and review of subsidies will only happen with the next Government!
Ditto for subsidies for power we’re drawing from Bhutan’s Chukha hydroelectric project. It seems they have gone too!
Since 2005, the rate we’ve paid for Bhutanese power has been Rs 2 per unit. (This emanated out of IGA, the Inter-Governmental Assistance model, where 60 per cent of the cost was a grant and 40 per cent was loan, at an interest of 5 per cent. So, the base price being paid by Power Trading Corporation was Rs 1.55 per unit and the remaining 45 paise was refunded by Government of India).
Have we considered what abrupt withdrawal of subsidy impact recipients of this power in Bihar and the north-eastern StatesIJ
If this weren’t enough, future power projects, estimated in the region of 10,000 MW, are being shifted from IGA to a 50:50 joint venture model. In a simple debt : equity of 70:30, Thimpu would have to find 15 per cent of the equity component.
Do we know or care whether the Bhutanese have the moneyIJ
This utter mess is being attributed to Prime Minister Jigme Thinley’s parleys with Beijing, including his moves to settle a long-standing border dispute, and China being within kissing distance of being allowed to set up an embassy if Thinley, a St Stephen’s contemporary of foreign minister Salman Khurshid, returns to power (so far only India, Bangladesh and Kuwait have an embassy in Thimpu).
This begs a parting question: Since when are crude sanctions part of a weak Government’s arsenalIJ
(The columnist is CEO & Co-Founder, India Stratgey Group, Hammurabi & Solomon Consulting. Tweets @therohitbansal).