‘What if we rename parts of China’: Rajnath on Beijing changing names of Arunachal areas

PTI

Namsai, April 9

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday criticised China for renaming several places in Arunachal Pradesh, and wondered whether a similar attempt by India will result in those areas of the neighbouring country becoming parts of our territory.

Addressing an election rally at Namsai in the Arunachal Pradesh East constituency, Singh said China’s move to change the names of 30 places in the northeastern state will not change the ground reality.

Arunachal Pradesh is an integral part of India, he asserted.

“I want to ask China if we change the names of various states of the neighbouring country, will those be parts of our territory? Because of such activities, the relationship between India and China will deteriorate,” Singh said.

“We want to maintain good relations with all our neighbours. But if anybody tries to harm our self-respect, India has the capability to give a befitting reply,” the defence minister asserted.

India had earlier this month outrightly rejected as “senseless” China renaming some places in Arunachal Pradesh, and asserted that assigning “invented” names does not alter the reality that the state “is, has been, and will always be” an integral part of India.

Beijing had recently announced Chinese names for 30 more places in Arunachal Pradesh, which the neighbouring country claims as southern part of Tibet.

Singh alleged that the Congress was never interested in developing the border areas and as a result, the country lost around 1000 sq km of its territory to the neighbouring country.

“I assure you that India will now never allow even an inch of land to be captured by its neighbour,” Singh said in the rally.

Accusing the Congress of neglecting Arunachal Pradesh as well as the entire northeast during its 60 years of rule, he said that the grand old party used to consider every border village as the last village of the country while the Modi government considers it as the first.

“We have rectified the mistakes of the Congress since 2014 after our party came to power and initiated infrastructure projects in border areas so that our borders are secured. For the NDA government, border villages are strategic assets of the country,” he said.

Singh added that the residents of the border villages immensely helped the country during the war with China in 1962.

“Their contributions will always be remembered by the country and we will remain grateful to them forever,” the minister said.

Referring to the quantum of investment made in the northeast in the 10 years of the BJP-led NDA government, Singh claimed that the amount of funds pumped into the region was much more than the amount sanctioned during the Congress rule.

“We have launched the UNNATI scheme for the northeast with a total investment of Rs 10,000 crore. The youth of the region will get employment through it,” he said. The UNNATI scheme aims to boost development of new industries in the region and generate employment. It will also promote trade and commerce with Southeast Asia.

Singh said that Modi’s guarantee is to make three crore ‘lakhpati didi’ in the country through various women self-help groups.

“Modi does whatever he says. All the projects whose foundation stone were laid by the Prime Minister were completed on time. While the Congress laid foundation stones for several projects in the region as an election plank, but the projects failed to see the light of the day,” he said.

Stating that Arunachal Pradesh is strategically important for India, Singh said the BJP government initiated various projects in the state, including Sella Tunnel, Dibang multi-purpose power project, the biggest in the country.

Alleging that the Congress has been spreading false narratives about the CAA, he said people should ignore it. 

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