Bhutanese Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay on Wednesday said that he regarded Prime Minister Narendra Modi as an elder brother and also considered him to be an avatar of Lord Vishnu.
The Bhutanese PM praises PM Modi’s 25 years of continuous service as head of the government.
He also praised PM Modi’s role in amplifying the voice of the Global South and bringing the African Union into the G20 as a permanent member. By then, I was prime minister again. I had concluded that I was right. Not only that. I now knew which avatar. Vishnu’s final avatar — the one associated with overcoming disorder, restoring dharma and ushering in renewal. Kalki,” he mentioned. “That’s why India’s assistance during our 11th Five-Year Plan helped my first government deliver an ambitious development programme. That’s why PM Modi sustained that generous partnership through our 12th Plan.
The Bhutanese PM lauded PM Modi’s 25 years of continuous service as head of the government, saying that India’s engagement with its neighbours has remained a key priority under his leadership. “Today, as PM Modi completes 25 years as a head of government, I am reminded of that impulsive conversation in 2019 — and our next meeting, on March 14, 2024. Underscoring that Viksit Bharat means Viksit Bhutan, Tobgay recalled that in June 2014, within weeks of becoming prime minister, PM Modi chose Bhutan for his first foreign visit. And that’s why, when I returned to office in 2024, he doubled India’s support for our 13th Plan to Rs 10,000 crore,” he noted.
Highlighting the personal influence Prime Minister Modi has had on him, Tobgay said he has long regarded the former as an elder brother and, over the years, has come to see him as a mentor whose example as a public servant has been a source of guidance. I called on my elder brother in Delhi, five years after telling him that I saw him as an avatar of Vishnu,” said the Bhutanese PM. “I told him that I had thought long and hard about what I had said five years earlier, and wondered whether I had been wrong.
