Tshering Tobgay
On 27 July 2019, I met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi.
My party had been eliminated in Bhutan’s elections ten months earlier and was no longer represented in Parliament. I was neither prime minister nor an MP; I met PM Modi simply as a private citizen.
I thanked him for his support during my years in office. And I told him he would always be my elder brother—not merely because he was older, but because he treated me with the affection an elder brother reserves for a younger sibling.
Then I told him something else: I saw him as an avatar of Vishnu. In our part of the world, I explained, enlightened rulers have long been regarded as such.
My words surprised me. Afterwards, I wondered what had prompted them. Had I been carried away? Was I wrong?
Later, as I reflected on what I had said, the answer became clear. I had been right to see PM Modi as an avatar of Vishnu.
I had watched him govern Gujarat for nearly 13 years, as the state became a national reference point for growth, infrastructure, investment and execution. Then I watched him take that ambition to the scale of India: manufacturing, foreign investment, financial inclusion, sanitation, technology and infrastructure, all underpinned by a relentless emphasis on service and delivery.
I also watched the public servant himself: disciplined, energetic and extraordinarily hard-working. What struck me most was his unwavering dedication to serving his country and his people.
But more importantly, he awakened in Indians a powerful belief in themselves and in their country. They seemed prouder of India, more ambitious about its possibilities and more confident of its place in the world.
These were, to me, the qualities of an enlightened ruler.
In Bhutan’s Buddhist tradition, we revere Rigsum Gonpo, a trinity of Bodhisattvas devoted to the liberation of all sentient beings. Manjushri embodies wisdom; Avalokiteshvara, compassion; and Vajrapani, courage.
To me, enlightened leadership is the exercise of these three qualities—wisdom, compassion and courage—through selfless service.
Today I see these qualities coming together most clearly in PM Modi’s vision of Viksit Bharat.
Wisdom begins with a clear vision of a better future. And he has given India one: to become a developed nation by 2047, exactly a century after independence. With Viksit Bharat, he has given that vision a name, a deadline and a national mission.
Compassion begins with understanding the hopes and aspirations of others. And Viksit Bharat reflects precisely that: the collective ambition of 1.4 billion Indians for a strong, prosperous and developed country. Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas captures that aspiration: all together, progress for all.
Courage begins with the determination to turn vision into reality. Building human capital, attracting investment, modernising infrastructure and, above all, improving governance require difficult choices and sustained execution. A vision is easy. Transformation is not.
And selfless service binds these qualities together. Viksit Bharat is not about one leader or one electoral cycle. It is about this generation and those yet to come. And through Sabka Prayas, PM Modi has called on every Indian not merely to support the mission, but to take part in building it.
That, undoubtedly, is among his most consequential achievements. He has not only given India a destination. He has inspired Indians to believe in that vision and to work towards it.
Viksit Bharat matters beyond India. PM Modi has consistently placed India’s neighbours first in its international engagement. He has championed the interests of the Global South, convening the Voice of Global South Summits and leading the successful effort to bring the African Union into the G20 as a permanent member.
And the stronger India becomes, the more it can do. A developed India will offer a larger market, have more capital and technology to share, and carry greater influence in shaping the global agenda to reflect the interests of the region and the Global South.
For me, however, it is more personal.
Viksit Bharat means Viksit Bhutan.
In June 2014, within weeks of becoming prime minister, PM Modi chose Bhutan for his first foreign visit. I was prime minister at the time and had the privilege of receiving him. During that visit, he summed up our relationship in three characters.
B4B: Bharat for Bhutan; Bhutan for Bharat.
The phrase is simple yet profound. And over the years, he has lived by it.
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.
And that’s why, when I returned to office in 2024, he doubled India’s support for our 13th Plan to ₹10,000 crore.
Today, B4B is visible across Bhutan—in schools and hospitals, roads and bridges, hydropower and technology, agriculture and enterprise.
But nowhere is B4B more consequential than in India’s support for His Majesty the King’s vision of Gelephu Mindfulness City. PM Modi has pledged India’s full support, and that commitment is already taking shape in rail links, border infrastructure, and improved air and digital connectivity.
More importantly, Indian businesses have taken their cue from PM Modi’s unequivocal support. Tata Power, the Adani Group, JSW Energy and others are investing in Bhutan’s economic transformation, while leading Indian business figures have joined GMC as founding members.
So all Bhutanese were delighted when His Majesty the King conferred on PM Modi the Order of the Druk Gyalpo, our highest honour, in recognition of his exceptional contribution to Bhutan. He is the first and only foreign leader to receive it.
For me, his influence has also been deeply personal. I have long regarded PM Modi as an elder brother, and over the years have come to see him as a mentor. He has never needed to instruct me; his example as a public servant has been instruction enough.
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 14 March 2024.
By then, I was prime minister again. I called on my elder brother in Delhi, five years after telling him that I saw him as an avatar of Vishnu.
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.
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.
(The author is Prime Minister of Bhutan)
