Former Indian ambassador Pavan K. Verma Thursday criticized the "ill-timed and unwise" Indian decision to withdraw subsidy to the cooking gas provided to Bhutan.
India has cut off the gas subsidy on a technical reason using the lapsed agreement with Bhutan, which expired June 30.
Participating at an interaction on Bhutan, Verma, now an advisor to the chief minister of Bihar, said the Indian government's decision was badly and wrongly timed.
Bhutan is in the election process now and there is no elected government.
Verma said he believes the government would revoke its decision soon.
"We should have waited till a new government took charge there and negotiated with them. If I was the advisor, I would have never advised such an unwise decision," he said.
Criticizing India's concerns over Bhutan establishing diplomatic ties with China, Verma asked: "What's wrong in a sovereign country seeks diplomatic relations with another neighbour? Why should we be concerned?"
