Union home minister Amit Shah reached Arunachal Pradesh on Monday, a week after China unilaterally gave Chinese names to places in the state, while he delivered a stern message to the northern neighbour. As part of the Vibrant Villages Programme, he also inaugurated infrastructure projects in Kibithoo, the easternmost tip of India.
‘We want peace with all, we don’t want war. But no one can encroach on even an inch of our territory," said Shah, addressing a gathering. He will also be spending the night in Kibithoo, about one kilometre away from the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
China had renamed parts of the Kibithoo forest last week and reacted sternly on Monday. “Zangnan is China’s territory. The Indian official’s visit to Zangnan violates China’s territorial sovereignty, and is not conducive to the peace and tranquillity of the border situation," Reuters quoted Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin saying in response to a question on the visit.
Zangnan is the name given by China to parts of Arunachal Pradesh, which it claims as South Tibet and therefore Chinese territory.
The union home minister, however, was unphased. His programme included not just infrastructural projects in Kibithoo but also a visit to the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) post on the LAC and interaction with the personnel deployed there. “It is one of the remotest locations. Patrolling these areas is also difficult since there was no night halt infrastructure till the government approved 47 border outposts in February this year," an ITBP official told News18.
Twelve staging camps to enable patrolling parties to halt at night, seven new battalions, and a sector headquarters at a cost of Rs 1,800 crore were approved by the cabinet committee on security (CCS) earlier this year. The home minister’s visit soon after this decision is meant to give a message about India’s plans along the LAC, which has seen recent disputes with China both in Ladakh (Galwan) and Arunachal Pradesh (Yangtze).
Shah’s visit is meant to give an infrastructure boost to these remote areas of Arunachal. “The Vibrant Villages Programme will help in improving the quality of life of people living in identified border villages and encourage people to stay in their native locations, thereby reversing the outmigration from these villages and adding to the security of the border," an MHA official said.
A total of 2,967 villages in 46 blocks of 19 districts on the northern border in Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, and the union territory of Ladakh have been identified for comprehensive development under the Vibrant Villages Programme. The scheme is meant to provide natives of these remote areas with livelihood by encouraging local produce, way of life, and tourism from mainland India.
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