China changing names of Arunachal areas will not alter ground situation: Rajnath Singh

OUR CORRESPONDENT

Namsai: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday criticized 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 India’s territory. Addressing an election rally at Namsai in Arunachal Pradesh East Constituency, Singh said China’s move to change 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 the southern part of Tibet. Singh alleged that the Congress was never interested in developing the border areas and as a result of which the country lost around 1000 square kilometers of its territory to the neighbouring country. “I assure that India will now never allow even an inch of land to be captured by its neighbor,” Singh asserted.

Accusing the Congress for neglecting Arunachal Pradesh as well as northeast during its 60 years of rule, the minister said that the opposition party had considered every border village as the last village of the country while the Modi government considers it as the first village.

“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, these 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. “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 last ten 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 and through this innovative scheme the youth of the region will get employment,” he said.

The UNNATI scheme, a game changer initiative by Modi, aims to boost development of newer industries in the Northeast and generate employment. It will promote trade and commerce with Southeast Asia and strike a balance between industrial growth and the region’s pristine environment.

Singh added that Modi’s guarantee is to make three crore lakhpati didi in the country through various women self help groups. Pointing out at various developmental projects in the northeast, Singh said that whatever promises made by Modi, all were implemented in reality.

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

He added that the position of India among other countries of the world had significantly improved. Earlier, India failed to get recognition in the world but today what India says, the world listens and it was only because of Modi, he added.

“After the Modi’s government came to power the status of around 25 crore poor people in the country improved. This is not our claim but revealed in a survey carried out by reputed organisations including the Niti Aayog,” he said and added that the 21st century is going to be for India.

Singh also referred to the prime minister’s effort to safely evacuate thousands of Indian students from war-ravaged Ukraine and also to cancel court verdicts against eight former navy officers of India who were served with death sentences by a Qatar court.

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

“The northeast witnessed massive development under the Modi government. The prime minister attached importance to the region treating it as ‘astha lakshmi’ and working to make it as the gateway to the South East Asian countries,” Singh said and added that if the northeast will develop, the country will automatically develop.

On the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), Singh clarified that it will not hamper the citizenship status of the people of the country after its implementation. “The Congress and the NCP are spreading false propaganda against the CAA and people should ignore it,” he added.

The minister appealed to the people of the state to vote for the BJP-led NDA for peace, stability, and prosperity. He urged the voters to re-elect Tapir Gao from Arunachal West Parliamentary constituency and all the BJP candidates for the assembly polls, in order to strengthen the hands of Modi.

“The BJP led NDA has a leader like Modi, a vision for India’s development, and a mission to take the country forward. In contrast, Congress lacks both energy and synergy within the INDI alliance,” he added.

Also Read: ‘DMK, Congress creating confusion on CAA’: Union Defense Minister Rajnath Singh (sentinelassam.com)

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