'India soft on China's Arunachal claim'

Khiren Rijiju, Bhartiya Janata Party member of parliament from Arunachal (West), has accused the government of India of adopting a soft posture against the Chinese government which was becoming more and more aggressive in its stance over its alleged claim to Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh.

Speaking to rediff.com on Monday, Rijiju said that the stance taken by the Indian government is not very encouraging.

"India must tell China strongly that Arunachal Pradesh is an integral part of India and there is no room for negotiations," Rijiju said.

"If there must be discussions, they should centre around the Chinese returning the Aksai Chin territory back to India, which has been under its occuption for several decades. Not a single inch of that territory should be allowed to be taken over by China," he said.

According to Rijiju, China is encirling India from all sides and has now set its eyes on Arunachal Pradesh, which has tremendous hydro-power generation capacity.

"So many rivers run through our state that it can produce enormous amounts of electricity for domestic use. Tawang is a merely a symbol, but the Chinese are looking at the whole of Arunachal Pradesh. If there is proper development, then our state can become the number one state in India," he said.

Rijiju said that as the biggest democracy in the world, India should strive for political, religious and social freedom of the the people of Tibet.

"Today is a black day in the history of India as it was on November 20, 1962, the day the Chinese announced unilateral ceasefire and withdrawal back to the MacMohan line. The Arunachalis still remember this day when Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru said on radio, "My heart goes out to the people of Assam. (Then Arunachal was part of Assam)," he said.

He alleged that the Chinese have been slowly taken over parts of Arunachali territory from the Taksin area and now is claiming ownership over Tawang. This has happened in the last two years.

"The Chinese are building up their military presence on the India-Tibet border and if they do not get what they are looking for, they may try to use force," he cautioned.