“I’ve never attacked PDP. I said whoever does this is wrong. I tell them to recognize intimidation by giving examples. I tell them to recognize lies by giving examples of other countries.”

Jigmi Thinley was trudging towards Nimshong, in Zhemgang dzongkhag, nearly a day’s walk from the nearest road, up a muddy trail and through a thick and roadless jungle. “I’m afraid. I am fearful for Bhutan. We’ve had it too good for too long. Nobody wanted democracy in this country. Everybody was happy with the way things were. Everyone had trust, confidence, and respect in Their Majesties the Kings. We didn’t want things to change. There was nothing to be mended, nothing was broken.”

He was afraid, Jigmi Thinley said, because Bhutan was politically, culturally and economically a vulnerable country. Far stronger countries had collapsed because democracy did not begin well there, he said. Countries near Bhutan, where people have aspired for democracies, where the people were able to empower themselves with the right to choose their governments, things have gone horribly wrong.

“If we are afraid, we will be careful, we’ll think.”

“It’s not so much fear as worry that I am planting in people’s minds. I tell them to think on what I’ve said. I tell them to decide whether what I’ve said is correct. I am only creating spaces for people to think. That’s the responsibility of political parties.”

There are about 90 people in Nimshong, mostly women. Word has spread among the tshogpas that the people from other gewogs were prevented from attending the meeting. They identified a person, who allegedly dabbles in the ways of occultism and is feared by the farmers.

The man himself is in the room, too, among the farmers. He stands up and declares that he did not stop people from coming to the DPT meeting. The Zhemgang DPT coordinator, an elderly man, also stands to insist that he had stopped them. The DPT president continues his speech.

“Beware of those that come to intimidate you of your votes,” Jigmi Thinley says in Khengkha. “Your vote is a precious gem that His Majesty the fourth King has given you. That gem is your right, the freedom to choose your leader, to shape your destiny, your children’s destiny and the destiny of your country. It is your sacred duty to protect it.”

“Don’t think that you cannot think. Don’t convince yourself that you are not capable of taking the right decision. You have the wisdom, you have the capability, that’s why His Majesty has trusted you, trusted us, the people. We must exercise that, we have to be responsible.”

“There will be people, who will try to intimidate you into voting for them, using threats ‘if you don’t vote for us, we will not give you roads.’ Beware of these people, for they are not good.”

“There will also be people, who will try to lure your vote with money. It is called bribery and it is a crime. An unethical person will never benefit you.”

The next day the alleged man and his friend are there in the DPT meeting in Tingtibi. An unusual drama unfolds. The DPT tshogpas spot him listing down the number plates of the DPT cars, including the president’s. A driver confronts him during the act and a heated exchange ensues. A Zhemgang businessman intervenes and coaxes the man away.

At one point during this meeting, the DPT president asks the man and his friend: “What are you doing here, you two?” People’s eyes rest on the two men and they stand there, unmoved. The man tells Kuensel: “I’ve come here to attend Lyonpo’s speech. There is nothing wrong with that. Is there?”

DPT president appears to exude a newfound sense of urgency and purpose.

“If you are going to get swayed by gifts, by promises, and by threats, if you yield and submit to threats, you’ll get an authoritarian rule. If you yield to people, who bribe you, you’ll get corrupt government.”

Source: Kuensel