On Sunday (November 7), Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju slammed the Congress party and a ‘mischievous media’ house for claiming that China has built a village inside the territory of Arunachal Pradesh.
The Union Law Minister, who is an MP from Arunachal Pradesh, posted a tweet today saying, “Some mischievous media wrote in bold that ‘China has built a village inside Arunachal’ and then slightly mentioned ‘at the area occupied by China in 1959’. What’s your purpose? And these people deliberately don’t believe the Indian Army but quickly quoted a foreign story to create a misleading headline to question the credibility of our Govt and the strength of our Army with a malicious motive to demoralize the nation.”
प्रिय कांग्रेसियों, चीन सीमा मुद्दे पर बोलने से पहले कांग्रेस सरकार के रक्षा मंत्री की बात सुनें।
— Kiren Rijiju (@KirenRijiju) November 7, 2021
Some mischievous media wrote in bold that “China has built a village inside Arunachal” and then slightly mentioned “at the area occupied by China in 1959”
What’s your purpose? pic.twitter.com/sv3JKrmoEA
The comments by Kiren Rijiju came at the backdrop of a tweet by the Congress party wherein they claimed that China has built an entire village within the territory of India. The grand-old party had tweeted on Saturday (November 6), “China built a village in Arunachal Pradesh which can act as a military base. One among several such villages across the LAC.”
Earlier in January, Congress scion Rahul Gandhi had made similar claims about the Chinese forces occupying Indian territory. He had shared a Hindi newspaper cutting which claimed that the Chinese forces had established a village in the State of Arunachal Pradesh.
The tweet posted by the Congress party on Saturday is based on an NDTV report published on November 4, which had quoted a ‘US Defence Report’ to claim that China has built a village inside Arunachal Pradesh. They used the so-called US defence report as a validation for their earlier report published on January 18 this year, where they had made the same claim for the first time. The report had said, “China has constructed a new village in Arunachal Pradesh, consisting of about 101 homes, show satellite images accessed exclusively by NDTV. The same images, dated November 1, 2020, have been analysed by several experts approached by NDTV, who confirmed that the construction, approximately 4.5 kms within Indian territory of the de facto border, will be of huge concern to India.”
Although this was a sensational update as it implied that China has recently occupied Indian territory in Arunachal and built a village, the NDTV report in January itself has revealed the truth, that it is not a recent incursion, and the concerned area is under Chinese occupation for more than 60 years. The NDTV report had said, “Though this area is Indian territory, according to official government maps, it has been in effective Chinese control since 1959.”
The report had said that earlier there was only a Chinese military post in the area, but now a village has been constructed. Therefore, NDTV itself had said that the area had been under Chinese control for the past 62 years. But it still claimed that China has built a village in Arunachal, implying that the village has been constructed in current Indian territory. The left-wing media house again made the same claim on Thursday (November 4) by publishing a new report, allegedly after being ‘vindicated’ by the US Department of Defence. After that, most other media houses have carried the story, spreading the rumour that China has occupied Indian territory to build a village, ignoring the fact the area is under Chinese occupation since 1959, and they have built a village there recently.
Since then, the Congress party had been reiterating the ‘claim’ of China setting up a village within the Indian territory. However, all aspersions cast by the grand old party had been put to rest by Kiren Rijiju who emphasised how the same people show no Faith in the statements of the Indian armed forces.
This is not the first time Rijiju has pointed out that the area in question is under Chinese occupation for a long time. When Rahul Gandhi had raised the matter in January after NDTV had made the claim for the first time in January, he had tweeted, “Those locations you are referring to have been under Chinese occupation since very-very long Congress regime in India. How can a national leader is ignorant and unaware of sensitive facts?”
The village has been built by China in an area that was occupied by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) after overrunning an Assam Rifles post in 1959 along the frontier in Arunachal Pradesh, and therefore it is not in the territory controlled by India. It was captured by China in 1959 in an operation known as Longju incident. It is notable that Congress leader Jawaharlal Nehru was the Prime Minister of India in 1959. The village along the contentious border in the upper Subansiri district is in the territory controlled by China. They have, for years, maintained an Army post in the region and the various constructions undertaken by the Chinese have not happened in a fortnight.
Kiren Rijiju also shared a 2013 speech of former Defence Minister AK Anthony wherein he had conceded that the area adjoining the border had been left underdeveloped on purpose. “Independent India had a policy for many years. The best defence is to not develop the border. The undeveloped border is safer than the developed border. So, for many years, there was no construction of roads, airfields on the border areas. By that time, China continued to develop their infrastructure in the border areas,” Anthony could be heard as saying.
And these people deliberately don’t believe Indian Army but quickly quoted a foreign story to create a misleading headline to question the credibility of our Govt and strength of our Army with a malicious motive to demoralize the nation. https://t.co/8z2GrZwjJq
— Kiren Rijiju (@KirenRijiju) November 7, 2021
He had further conceded, “So as a result, they have now gone ahead of us. Compared to us, infrastructure wise, capability wise, in the border areas, they (China) are ahead. I admit that it is a part of history.” While slamming the Congress party for its past policy, Kirren Rijiju pointed out, “Dear Congress, before commenting on India-China border issues, please listen to your former Defence Minister. “
