Defense Minister Rajnath Singh, while speaking at an election rally in Arunachal Pradesh for the 2024 Lok Sabha election campaign, criticized China’s decision to rename several locations in the region. He also raised concerns about the potential consequences if India were to rename areas in China, questioning whether this would result in those areas becoming part of Indian territory.
Addressing a crowd at a campaign event in Namsai, located in the Arunachal Pradesh East Constituency, Singh emphasized that China’s actions in altering the names of 30 places in the northeastern state would not alter the actual situation on the ground.
Singh said, “China has changed the names of 30 places in Arunachal Pradesh and posted them on its website. I want to tell my neighbour that nothing is going to happen by changing the names. If tomorrow we change the names of some provinces and some states in China, will those areas become part of India? Because of such activities, the relationship between India and China will deteriorate. We want to maintain good relations with our neighbours but if someone tries to hurt India’s honor, then today India has the power to respond to it.”
China renamed 30 places along the line of actual control (LAC) in Arunachal last Monday. The Chinese Ministry of Civil Affairs issued the fourth list of “standardised” geographical names in the northeastern state, referred to as Zangnan by Beijing. China renamed 11 residential areas, 12 mountains, four rivers, one lake, one mountain pass, and a piece of land for this list.
India dismissed China’s decision to rename places as “illogical.” Randhir Jaiswal, spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs, stated, “China has persisted with its senseless attempts to rename places in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh. We firmly reject such attempts.”
Further, Rajnath Singh said Congress never developed border regions, so India lost about 1000 square kilometres to China.
“I assure you that India will now never allow even an inch of land to be captured by its neighbour. We have rectified the mistakes of the Congress since 2014, after our party came to power and initiated infrastructure projects in border areas so that our borders are secured. For the NDA government, border villages are strategic assets of the country.”
According to Singh, the residents of border villages provided support to the country during the 1962 conflict with China. “Their contributions will always be remembered by the country and we will remain grateful to them forever.”
Over the past decade, the BJP-led NDA government has invested significantly in the northeast, surpassing the funds allocated during the Congress. He added, “We have launched the UNNATI scheme for the northeast with a total investment of ₹10,000 crore. The youth of the region will get employment through it.”
During his speech, the Defense Minister also talked about how India has improved its global recognition under Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “After Modi’s government came to power, the status of around 25 crore poor people in the country improved. This is not our claim but was revealed in a survey carried out by reputed organizations, including the Niti Aayog.”
“Our prime minister has also pledged to make India a developed country by 2047. Viksit Bharat is not our slogan but our commitment. If today, the BJP-led government is working to take the country forward, then it should have your full support,” Rajnath Singh said.
