No country can take even an inch of Indian territory, said Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday during a visit to Arunachal Pradesh, as he launched a village development programme right at the country’s easternmost border village. Taking aim at China just days after Beijing attempted to rename a number of places in the State, Mr. Shah said India’s borders were secure and could not be violated, even in terms of land measuring “the tip of the needle”. The Chinese Foreign Ministry responded sharply to the visit, claiming it violated Chinese territory.
“Today, the entire country can sleep peacefully because of the bravery and sacrifices of our ITBP [Indo-Tibetan Border Police] and Army jawans. As ITBP and Army personnel are deployed, nobody can encroach upon our land covered even by the tip of a needle,” Mr. Shah said, adding “there can be no compromise with the respect of our Army and borders.”
Mr. Shah was addressing a public gathering after unveiling the ₹4,800-crore Vibrant Villages Programme (VVP) to be executed in 2,967 villages across 19 districts in four border States, including Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Uttarakhand, and Himachal Pradesh, and the union territory of Ladakh. The project cost includes ₹2,500 crore for road connectivity from 2022-23 fiscal to 2025-26. The event was held at Kibithoo in Arunachal Pradesh’s Anjaw district, which shares borders with China and Myanmar.
The Home Minister’s visit came one week after Beijing said it would “rename” 11 places in the northeastern State, in an attempt to lay claim to the entire State.
Also read | China criticises Amit Shah’s visit to Arunachal Pradesh
On Monday, a spokesperson of Beijing’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs claimed that the visit “violated China’s sovereignty”.
“Zangnan is China’s territory. Indian officials’ activities in this area violate China’s sovereignty and territorial sovereignty and not conducive to peace and tranquillity in the border regions. We firmly oppose it,” said spokesperson of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) Wang Wenbin. The Ministry of External Affairs is yet to respond to the comment from the Chinese MFA. China has objected in the past as well to visits by Indian Ministers, which the government has rejected.
The Home Minister said people living near the Line of Actual Control are considered the first line of defence. He said they need to be incentivised to stay in these areas, and development under the VVP was essential for this.
‘City-like’ infrastructure
“The Arunachal Pradesh government and the Centre will take care of the well-being of the villagers. We will fulfil all their basic needs. We will take the banks there, help the people open bank accounts, provide electricity, LPG, drinking water, employment, and build toilets. These villages will be connected digitally and physically with the rest of the State and the country,” he said, promising “city-like” infrastructure and services to villagers within the next three years. He said the government would ensure environmental and energy security and promoting tourism in the border villages.
Kibithu is located at 1,305 metres above sea level in the lap of the eastern Himalayas. It is also known to be the easternmost point of India. Kibithu is also known as one of the locations where fierce battle took place between the Indian and the Chinese forces during the war of 1962. The LAC at Arunachal Pradesh has also seen skirmishes recently, including a scuffle between Indian soldiers and a PLA force that attempted to overrun an Indian post at Yangtse in Tawan in December 2022.
In September 2022, the Indian military’s garrison in Kibithu which is located very near the Line of Actual Control (LAC) was named as General Bipin Rawat military garrison in memory of India’s first Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat who was killed in an air crash in December 2021.
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