Opinion Too far from Delhi

One such Chinese tactic is the establishment of String-of-Pearls which is already accomplished. Each Pearl serves the Chinese military and economic interests. The Hainan Island Military facility has been upgraded recently along with the Woody Island airstrip in the Paracel archipelago. China has built a container shipping facility at Chittagong in Bangladesh besides assisting the military build-up of Bangladesh Army. A deep water port in Sittwe in Myanmar is complete and China has also built a deep water port in Gwadar in Pakistan which will serve its interest in the entire straits of Hormuz. China moved further deep by developing Hambantota Port,thereby consolidating its presence in the Indian Ocean,and provided military help to Sri Lanka to defeat the LTTE. China is the only country to have an exclusive economic zone in Sri Lanka. It has created a maritime reconnaissance and electronic intelligence station in Coco Island,which is just 18 km north of Andaman,and additionally controls the Myanmar ports of Akyab,Cheduba and Bassein. The honest admission of our naval chief about the Chinese blue navy power,and the air force chief’s statement that our strength is one third of the Chinese,is troubling.

In the Himalayan frontier,the scene is more worrisome. Across the frontier China has built remarkable world-class infrastructural facilities,while our soldiers and citizens in most of the portion and in the McMahon line stretch trek on foot. China already has a railway line inside Tibet using permafrost technology. In contrast,we could not extend a single km of rail route beyond Morkung Selek at the Assam-Arunachal boundary which the British built before Independence. This massive rail and road infrastructure,built by China along the Tibetan plateau,has a drastic strategic implication for India in the context of our unresolved border row. The report about the Chinese move to build dams along Yarlong Tsangpo is a strategic ploy and will have serious implications for our very eco-system.

Arunachal Pradesh is in deep trouble as sporadic Chinese incursions occur while the government continues to say that the intrusions are due to differences in the perception of the McMahon Line. If the Chinese PLA were to come right into the heartland of Arunachal,we can’t justify it just because Chinese perception is that the whole of Arunachal is Chinese territory. The prime minister’s financial grants for road development in Arunachal is a marked departure from past policy and is a welcome step. The government has moved from the obsolete policy of keeping Arunachal underdeveloped (without roads near Mc Mahon line) as a means to stop a quick Chinese advance in the event of war! Still,it can’t completely eradicate the acute bottlenecks created due to such long neglect. An extensive military transformation and massive road and rail network with substantial economic development in the forward areas of Arunachal and other sectors along the Indo-China border will balance the existing lopsided scale.

Thanks to the lackluster attitude of successive governments and a lack of general awareness,Arunachal Pradesh does not interest the whole country like Kashmir does. The just concluded Assembly elections in Arunachal went without much notice in the rest of India. Apparently,it is too far from Delhi. Arunachal Pradesh,the largest state in the North-East,is five times bigger than the Kashmir Valley and a very rich state with abundant natural resources. Patriotism is ingrained in the blood of every Arunachalee. But a majority of our country-men are oblivious to its existence. An Arunachalee feels the pain if somebody ask for proof of citizenship in Delhi or fellow Indians want to know if he has come from China,Nepal or Thailand !

May be Arunachal Pradesh does not send enough members of Parliament and does not contribute much revenue in the government’s kitty,the way Maharashtra or Tamil Nadu does. Remember,we lost Aksai Chin because not a blade of grass grows there.

The writer is a former BJP MP From Arunachal Pradesh. He is currently with the Congress party