Editorial: Modi a la mode

NEW DELHI: For a politician forever on the stump, it was a surprise that Prime Minister Modi broke off from his election campaign last week for a state visit to Bhutan. Of course, there is some basis to say that foreign policy events, to Modi, are an extension of his electioneering. So Thimphu was not quite a departure from character. The PM’s fan base at home is greatly impressed by the pomp of his foreign visits, which are taken to raise the stature of India abroad. By that yardstick, there was much in the visit to please that constituency.

The Himalayan kingdom went to great lengths to arrange appropriate festoonery for their guest, including lute music and dandiya dances to Bollywood hits. Modi was also conferred Bhutan’s highest honour, the Order of the Druk Gyalpo, presenting which King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuk said, “With him at the helm, India’s future is bright.” The encomium sounded like an endorsement, but then it’s the new normal for leaders to endorse candidates in another country’s election, as Modi himself did in the 2020 US election.

Critics of the Indian PM are saying this state visit in the middle of the election season is a breach of the Model Code of Conduct, particularly his pledge of Rs 10,000 crore as India’s assistance to Bhutan’s next five-year plan. The Thimphu engagement did seem timed for Modi’s advantage in the election. For one thing, the urgency of its scheduling was dubious because Bhutan’s Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay had completed a five-day visit to New Delhi just the week prior.

Further, the Order of the Druk Gyalpo award to Modi had been announced in 2021 and its presentation held back for a more opportune occasion. In fact, the coincidence of foreign honours and Modi’s election campaigns is not new: Back in April 2019, the United Arab Emirates announced its highest honour, the Order of Zayed, to the Indian Prime Minister in the midst of the election season that year.

In Modi’s defence, it can be said there’s nothing in the Model Code of Conduct that specifically bars a PM from performing foreign policy duties during the election season. Also, he is not the first Indian PM to undertake foreign visits during the election season. Manmohan Singh did so in 2009 to participate in the G-20 summit in the UK.

Two general provisions in the code, however, do throw a dubious shadow on the Bhutan visit: one bars ministers from combining official visits with and using official machinery for electioneering work or furtherance of the interests of the party in power; and the second prohibits announcing financial grants in any form. Be that as it may, when it comes to the PM, use of government machinery for official purposes and its misuse for electioneering can scarcely be separated because the man embodies both incumbent as well as candidate.

The urgency of the visit stemmed from the fact that Thimphu is poised to hold talks with China to settle their border dispute, which would have a bearing on India’s interests in the Northeast. With China building villages in the disputed territory, there is pressure on Thimphu to separate its relationship with India and its dealings with Beijing. That presents two important foreign policy challenges to New Delhi: one, to secure its own interests in the border dealings and to preserve its influence in Bhutan. If that interest was served by a prime ministerial visit, then a quibble over the Model Code is unnecessary.