New Delhi [India], April 11 : India has rejected China's objections to the visit of Home Minister Amit Shah to Arunachal Pradesh, saying that Indian leaders routinely travel to the state and it is and will always remain an integral part of India.
Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said on Tuesday that objecting to such visits "does not stand to reason and will not change the reality".
"We completely reject the comments made by the Chinese Official Spokesperson. Indian leaders routinely travel to the state of Arunachal Pradesh as they do to any other state of India. Arunachal Pradesh was, is and will always remain an integral and inalienable part of India. Objecting to such visits does not stand to reason and will not change the above reality," Bagchi said.
He was responding to media queries regarding the Chinese Official Spokesperson's comments on the visit of the Home Minister to Arunachal Pradesh.
China had opposed Amit Shah's visit to Arunachal Pradesh.
"China firmly opposes the Indian official's visit to Zangnan as Zangnan is China's territory and the visit violated China's territorial sovereignty and is not conducive to peace and tranquillity in the border region," China Daily, a state-affiliated media outlet, quoted Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin as stating at a news briefing on Monday.
Amit Shah on Monday visited Kiboithoo, a border village in Arunachal Pradesh to launch the 'Vibrant Villages Programme'. He said "no one can encroach even needle's tip worth of our land". He also said that no one can cast their "evil eye" on India as the Indo-Tibetan Border Police and Indian Army are guarding the borders.
"The entire country can sleep peacefully in their homes today because our ITBP jawans and Army is working day and night on our borders. Today, we can proudly say that no one has the power to cast an evil eye on us," Shah said.
The MEA had earlier this month rejected China's attempts to rename 11 places in Arunachal Pradesh.
"We have seen such reports. This is not the first time China has made such an attempt. We reject this outright. Arunachal Pradesh is, has been, and will always be an integral and inalienable part of India. Attempts to assign invented names will not alter this reality," Bagchi had said in response to media queries.
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