17/03/2022
Backbone of Bhutan. Great FOURTH!
𝐀𝐝𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝟒𝐭𝐡 𝐃𝐫𝐮𝐤 𝐆𝐲𝐚𝐥𝐩𝐨 𝐉𝐢𝐠𝐦𝐞 𝐒𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐲𝐞 𝐖𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐜𝐡𝐮𝐜𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐍𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧
𝑵𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝑫𝒂𝒚 𝑮𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒑𝒉𝒖, 𝑫𝒆𝒄𝒆𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓 17,1978
".....𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑆𝑜𝑢𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑛 𝐵ℎ𝑢𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑒 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑑𝑜 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑣𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑠 𝑡𝑟𝑢𝑒 𝐵ℎ𝑢𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑒. 𝑇ℎ𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑦𝑜𝑢, 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑐𝑎𝑛𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑏𝑒 𝑡𝑟𝑢𝑒 𝐵ℎ𝑢𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑆𝑜𝑢𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑛 𝐵ℎ𝑢𝑡𝑎𝑛 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑁𝑒𝑝𝑎𝑙 𝑛𝑜𝑟 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝐼𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑎𝑛𝑠 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝐾𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑚𝑝𝑜𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐷𝑎𝑟𝑗𝑒𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔. 𝐵𝑢𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑎 𝑔𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡 𝑑𝑖𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑑𝑖𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑃𝑎𝑙𝑑𝑒𝑛 𝐷𝑟𝑢𝑘𝑝𝑎. 𝐴𝑙𝑙 𝑜𝑓 𝑢𝑠 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑓𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑦."
Today is the auspicious day when Ugyen Wangchuck was crowned the First King of Bhutan. Long ago, when our country was plagued by wars, internal strife and poverty, it went through a very critical and difficult period of history. But when Ugyen Wangchuck came to the throne, there was for the first time unity, prosperity and happiness, and a new era of great peace and tranquility began. Hence, we celebrate this day as our National Day. Until this year, we have never celebrated our National Day in Southern Bhutan. It is because of this, that it gives me today a special happiness to celebrate the National Day here in Gelephu with our people.
Our country's national policy is to consolidate our sovereignty to achieve economic self-reliance, prosperity and happiness for our country and people. Today, when our country is passing through a crucial stage of development, the most important thing is for the government and the people to work hand in hand in all our country's developmental efforts in order to achieve economic progress, attain self-reliance and strengthen our national sovereignty. This is very important, because some of our people must be thinking that large external aid and technical assistance are easily available. There is, therefore, the temptation for us to lie idle and rely fully on external assistance to accomplish our objectives and fulfill our national aspirations. It is important for us to understand that too much dependency on outside aid will only defeat our national goals and aspirations.
Although we are a small developing country, from the smallest development task, the people and the government are today working together to accomplish and fulfill our cherished national aspiration of economic self-reliance. In this respect, I am very happy to tell you that even developed nations have praised such a policy as ours. I want you all to know that I am very proud of your deep sense of duty, dedication, loyalty, and the ability to sacrifice and show great determination in fulfilling our hopes and dreams for the future of our beloved country.
I have often heard that some of our Southern Bhutanese people do not consider themselves as true Bhutanese. Those of you, who think this cannot be true Bhutanese because our people of Southern Bhutan are not people of Nepal nor are you Indians from Kalimpong and Darjeeling. But there is a great difference and that difference is because you are all people of the Palden Drukpa. All of us are like one family.
From tomorrow onwards, we will be holding developmental meetings and I will be meeting your representatives and Mandals. I would like you to know that as far as the development of Southern Bhutan is concerned in the field of animal husbandry, agriculture, schools, hospitals, cash crops and overall development, I will myself personally look after them. It is our desire to start such development work which will be useful, beneficial and necessary to the people. As far as your individual problems and difficulties are concerned, I want you to know that they will also be looked into personally by me and I will try to solve them as in one family.
Today, for the future of our country, the most important thing is our people, and the destiny of our country lies in our hands. I have full trust and confidence that, if today the people and the government can work hand in hand with determination, fidelity, and unity, and if we can all together develop our country with our own efforts, then our country will march from strength to strength and enjoy eternal bliss.
I would once again like to say how happy I am to be here to celebrate our National Day in Gelephu and I want you to know that it gives me great happiness to be able to see all the development works in Southern Bhutan and to be with our people. I wish all our brothers and sisters Tashi Delek!