Govt red-faced over allies using China plank in Arunachal polls

While everyone in the Union government from prime minister Manmohan Singh downwards has gone blue in the face denying reports of Chinese incursions into Indian territory, at ground zero in Arunachal Pradesh, the China scare is emerging as a major issue in the ongoing campaign for the October 13 assembly polls.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is leading the charge, but much to the embarrassment of the Congress, its United Progressive Alliance (UPA) allies, the Trinamool Congress (TC) and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) have joined the chorus. The TC and NCP are contesting the polls independently and both have trained their guns on the Congress for being “soft” on China despite regular intrusions by Chinese soldiers into the state.

The Trinamool’s Arunachal president Kito Sora told DNA over the telephone, “We want the Union home ministry to come out openly with the facts. Such things cannot continue as they hamper the peaceful atmosphere here.” He admitted that security and development are the twin poll planks of his party which is contesting elections in Arunachal for the first time.

The BJP has flagged Chinese incursions in its election manifesto. “The situation along the border is very volatile but the Congress is not addressing it seriously,” said P Chandrashekhar, BJP organising secretary for the north-east. “Chinese soldiers keep coming into our territory. We find Chinese slogans painted on the mountain walls. Drugs and arms are smuggled across the Myanmar border with Chinese help. These are major security concerns for the people of Arunachal Pradesh.”

With the China factor taking centrestage in the poll campaign, the Congress state unit is finding it hard to reconcile its electoral compulsions with the Union government’s decision to downplay reports of rising tensions along the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

A Congress leader who did not want to be identified admitted to a degree of confusion in formulating a campaign line to counter its opponents’ shrill propaganda. And the soft noises towards China from senior Union government leaders are not helping.

There is a clear dichotomy between the diplomatic line on China and activity on the ground. Although the PM pitched his Rs22,000 crore  grant for Arunachal Pradesh as a development package, much of the money is being spent on upgrading and reinforcing military infrastructure in the state. DNA has already reported that the government is planning to raise a huge mountain division to intensify patrolling along the LAC, the airport at Tezpur is being revamped to accommodate military planes and a massive network of airstrips and border roads is under construction.

 The Congress leader to who DNA spoke also acknowledged that there has been a sizeable increase in army strength in recent months, and there are visible troop movements in the state every day. Although this frenetic activity is virtual acknowledgement of heightened threat perception, the Congress is not in a position to tom-tom it in the ongoing election campaign as evidence of the government’s preparedness for the protection of Arunachal. Any aggressive campaigning by the Congress will be seen by China as a hostile act and could strain diplomatic ties.

 There is obviously a dilemma here for the Congress, which is why its state leaders have adopted a stoic view of the barbs from the opposition. “Our plank is the development of Arunachal Pradesh and we are highlighting the prime minister’s Rs22,000 crore package. We are telling people to be calm and not to be taken in by what the Trinamool, NCP and BJP are saying,” said former MP Kiren Rijiju who recently left the BJP to join the Congress.