On Arunachal visit, Rajnath Singh takes a swipe at China for changing names

Defence minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday criticised China’s recent move to rename some parts of Arunachal Pradesh, saying it won’t change the ground realities and cautioned.

That it would sour relations between New Delhi and Beijing. “Recently China renamed some parts of Arunachal Pradesh in one of their websites. They won’t gain anything from such renaming. I want to tell our neighbour, what if tomorrow we rename some of their regions and states? Will those places become ours because of the name change? China shouldn’t have such misconceptions,” Singh said at a public meeting at Namsai in Arunachal Pradesh.

“I think such acts will lead to souring of relations between our two nations… India wants to maintain friendly relations with all our neighbours. But if someone tries to hurt India’s pride, self-respect and honour, we have the capacity now to give a befitting reply,” he added while campaigning for the coming Lok Sabha and assembly polls.

Singh said the government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi has corrected mistakes made by Congress and improved infrastructure in the areas of Arunachal Pradesh bordering China including development of the villages located in those areas due to their strategic importance.

Terming the people of Arunachal Pradesh as strategic assets, he praised the state’s residents for their bravery during times of aggression with China.

“There’s a big difference between what the Congress governments at Centre did for the 10 years before our rule and even beyond that and the government under Narendra Modi since 2014,” Singh said, accusing previous Congress governments at the Centre of ignoring the region.

“There’s no difference between the words and deeds of Modi. If you look at our manifestoes, you will see that we have fulfilled our promises, which is unlike the previous governments of Congress and other parties who used to forget their promises after getting elected,” Singh said.

He cited the strategically important Sela Tunnel in Arunachal Pradesh inaugurated by PM Modi last month. Built by the Border Roads Organisation, the tunnel cost ₹825 crore and is the world’s longest twin-lane tunnel at an altitude of above 13,000 feet. The tunnel will help in the movement of the armed forces to forward areas near the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the Tawang sector.

The minister also assured people that no Indian would lose their citizenship due to the implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act, which will give Indian citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, Jains, Buddhists and Parsis from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan who entered India before December 31, 2014.

“Due to this law, no one will lose their citizenship. Instead, people will be able to get Indian citizenship because of it. But parties like Congress and Nationalist Congress Party are spreading confusion among the public about it,” said Singh.