Nothing unacceptable in Modi's address to Bhutan Parliament: D . Raja

Communist Party of India (CPI) leader D. Raja on Monday said there was nothing offensive or unacceptable in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's speech to the joint session of Bhutan's Parliament, and welcomed the latter's talk of empowering India.

"How the new Government headed by Modi is going to conduct the foreign policy affairs, we will have to wait and see. If the prime minister talks about empowering India, nobody can find anything unacceptable. Foreign policy matter is how to strengthen the good neighbourly relationship in the coming days," he said.

"Firstly Bhutan is our neighbour. The relationship between India and Bhutan is a good one without any strain as of now. Therefore, we should maintain good neighbourly relationship. But, there are neighbours with whom we have some problems ; for instance Pakistan and China. Definitely India is a strong power in the SAARC region by virtue of its size, economic growth. But how it is going to exercise its moral authority in the conduct of foreign policy matters is yet to be seen," he added.

Earlier in the morning while addressing Bhutan's joint session of Parliament Prime Minister Narendra Modi had batted for making India strong and prosperous, whose benefits will trickle into the SAARC region for good. A strong and prosperous India is necessary for the neighborhood, especially SAARC nations. India and Bhutan share a cultural heritage. We are one because we have kept our hearts open to each other... Our power draws from unity," he said.

He reassured the leadership of Bhutan that change in government will not impact Indo-Bhutan ties.