Arunachal CM blames Nehru, hails Sardar Patel over Tawang after LAC face-off

Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu on Thursday blamed Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first prime minister, as he spoke on Tawang days after Indian and Chinese troops had clashed along the contested Line of Actual Control (LAC). “It was Sardar Patel’s idea to join Tawang with Arunachal Pradesh. The state had not got its name at that time. It was known as NEFA (North-East Frontier Agency). The administration was under Assam at that time. The officials concerned were told to hoist the national flag along Tawang border under the 1949 Shimla agreement,” Khandu can be heard saying in a video tweeted by news agency ANI. “Governor Jairamdas Daulatram tapped Major General Bob Khating for the task.”

“It took two months at that time to do this. When Major Bob Khating sent a message on his arrival, the Governor further reached out to then Prime Minister (Nehru) because Sardar Patel had died by that time. But Nehru said - ‘What do we have to do by taking this place?’” Khandu further stressed, adding: “But this could not be conveyed to Major Bob Khating. So he - without any command - hoisted the flag. These are the chapters in history lost in time.” Bob Khating is hailed as the man who brought Tawang under India’s control.

Pema Khandu’s comments on Nehru come days after Amit Shah also mentioned the former prime minister as Parliament saw massive chaos when details on the clash along the LAC were revealed.

Shah also accused the Congress of letting the Chinese to grab Indian territory after the 1962 India-China war. The Union Minster also asserted that if the foundation was tasked to undertake research on India-China relations, as claimed by the Congress, whether it had looked into the “issue of encroachment of thousands of hectares of land by China in 1962” or “India’s prospect of getting a permanent membership in the Security Council” being “sacrificed on account of former PM Nehru.”

Troops were injured on both sides in the December 9 clash in Arunachal’s Tawang between Indian and Chinese troops. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh told both houses of Parliament that no soldiers were injured or no deaths were reported from the Indian side.

Opposition parties, including the Congress, have been alleging that the government has been blocking a discussion in Parliament.

(With inputs from ANI)