Guwahati: Union Minister Kiren Rijiju on Monday strongly condemned the renaming of several areas in Arunachal Pradesh by China and said that the baseless claims made by China will not change the ground reality.
“I strongly condemn China’s illegally ‘standardised’ geographical names given to 30 places inside Arunachal Pradesh. China has been making all baseless claims but that’s not going to change the ground reality and the ‘historical facts’,” he said.
Taking to his social media handle X, the minister wrote, “Arunachal Pradesh is an inalienable part of India, and the people of Arunachal Pradesh are supremely patriotic Indians by all standards & definitions.”
Meanwhile, the external affairs minister S Jaishankar on Monday said, “Arunachal Pradesh was, is, and will always be a state of India.”
Jaishankar made this remark while responding to the recent ‘re-naming’ of as many as 30 places in Arunachal Pradesh.
Jaishankar, in response to Chinese actions, drew a parallel by asking, “If today I change the name of your house, will it become mine?”
He emphasized that altering names does not alter the territorial status of Arunachal Pradesh.
Furthermore, he reiterated India’s firm stance by stating, “Our army is deployed there (Line of Actual Control).”
China, which refers to Arunachal Pradesh as Zangnan, has reiterated its claim over the region as an integral part of its territory.
It staunchly rejects what it deems as the “illegally established” Arunachal Pradesh by India.