Hyderabad (Telangana) [India], April 4 : All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Tuesday alleged that the Centre is erasing the past by removing Mughal history from the NCERT syllabus while China is erasing our present. He was referring to China renaming places in Arunachal Pradesh.
"On one side, the Modi government is erasing the Mughals from NCERT syllabus, while on the other side, China, with whom PM Modi was shaking hands at G20 Indonesia meeting, is erasing our present," Owaisi told a press conference.
Owaisi's barb comes after China's Ministry of Civil Affairs came up with the names of 11 places in Arunachal Pradesh, which it referred to as "Zangnan, the southern part of Tibet."
Sharpening his attack further, Owaisi said, "This is happening because China knows that the country's Prime Minister will not take its name, secondly this government does not speak facts, thirdly their [the government's] response is weak."
"Based on these three things, China is erasing our present and the government is erasing the Mughals (history)," he reiterated.
However, while responding to China's attempt of renaming names, the Ministry of External Affairs official spokesperson Arindam Bagchi on Tuesday asserted that Arunachal Pradesh will always be an integral part of India.
"India has outrightly rejected China's attempt to rename places of Arunachal Pradesh," Arindam Bagchi said.
In response to media queries regarding China renaming some places in Arunachal Pradesh, Arindam Bagchi in a statement said, "We have seen such reports. This is not the first time China has made such an attempt. We reject this outright."
He further said, "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."
China released names of 11 places in Arunachal Pradesh in Chinese characters, Tibetan and pinyin according to the rules on geographical names issued by the State Council, China's cabinet, Global Times reported.
The ministry announced the names of 11 places on Sunday and also gave precise coordinates, including two residential areas, five mountain peaks, two rivers and two other areas. China's Ministry of Civil Affairs also listed the category of places' names and their subordinate administrative districts, as per the news report.
According to a Global Times report, this is the third batch of geographical names announced by the ministry in Arunachal Pradesh. As per the news report, the first batch of the standardized names of six places was issued in 2017, and the second batch of 15 places was released in 2021.
Earlier, in December last year, the Indian government said that it has seen reports of China attempting to rename some places in Arunachal Pradesh "in its own language" and asserted that the border state has been and will always be an integral part of India."
In response to a media query on reports that China has renamed some places in Arunachal Pradesh in its own language, Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said China had also sought to assign such names in April 2017.
"We have seen such reports. This is not the first time China has attempted such a renaming of places in the state of Arunachal Pradesh. China had also sought to assign such names in April 2017," Bagchi said.
"Arunachal Pradesh has always been, and will always be an integral part of India. Assigning invented names to places in Arunachal Pradesh does not alter this fact," he added.
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