By Tenzin Dharpo
DHARAMSHALA, APR. 24: The bold remarks made by the Chief Minister Pema Khandu of the Indian border state of Arunachal Pradesh earlier this month has drawn censure from not only China but also the opposition party who deemed his statement to be diverting from the status quo.
Khandu during the visit of the Tibetan leader His Holiness the Dalai Lama to the state in the first week of April said ‘Tibet, not China shared border with his state’ rattling the conservatives in India as well as the hardliners in China.
Congress President in the state Takam Sanjoy was cited by Indian express as saying, “The CM of a sensitive state like Arunachal Pradesh should not make any statement before going through the political status and history of Tibet, as recognized by the Indian government.”
The border state is reeling in the aftermath of the official visit by the Dalai Lama, which China said was a breach on its sovereignty. China issued multiple statements objecting the proceedings that saw the octogenarian Tibetan leader engage in various areas such as Tawang which Beijing claims as its own.
In what many regarded as a retaliatory action, China on Tuesday named six places in Aruanchal Pradesh it claims as Southern Tibet. “It is a childish reaction to the Dalai Lama’s visit to the State earlier this month,” the 66-year-old French-born journalist wrote in his official blog.
He also highlighted that by naming these six places, Beijing probably wants to remind India of the 1962 War and the fact that the Dalai Lama ‘belongs to China’. The Tibetologist, however, maintained that the renaming is nothing new as many colonizers in the past have done.
Professor of Chinese Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University, Srikanth Kondapalli told IE that China is attempting to get back at India for allowing the Dalai Lama to have a successful visit in the state despite repeated objections from the other side of the border.
On the ground in the border state, protestors, mostly students Arunachal Pradesh Students Union led a rally against the renaming of the six places in the state by China. The protestors reportedly shouted anti China slogans and even burned effigies of the Chinese President Xi Jinping in Itanagar, the state capital of AP.
