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Dragon’s Shadow over Arunachal IN March this year, the Tibetans in India observed the 50th year of the escape of the Dalai Lama from Tibet following the Chinese occupation of Tibet. They expressed the hope that the Tibetans, who are presently living in their homeland, would be able to live in peace and freedom.
During his assignment between 1987 and 1990, Ram Pradhan and his wife travelled all over Arunachal by road and air, met people of all the 16 districts, each distinct from the other in its own way. They interacted with the tribal chiefs without patronising them. Pradhan was able to carry forward the efforts of Sir Verrier Elvin and the officers of the Indian Frontier Administrative Service in instilling in the people with a sense of belonging to India. He discovered that many tribes from Arunachal, while having distinct traditions, had strong links with the rest of India. That there are temples associated with Bhishma, that Lord Krishna had married Rukmini, an Idu-Mishmi girl, and that every year on Makar Sankranti day on January 14, people from far off came to Parasram Kund, near Tezu, on the Lohit river for a holy dip. As Governor, Pradhan studied India’s border problem with China.`A0Many have blamed Jawaharlal Nehru for trusting China. He entered into an agreement on Tibet in 1954 and helped China being ushered into the non-aligned meet at Bandung in 1955. Nehru’s efforts were directed to make China a strong friend of India, even though he was skeptical of Chinese intentions. That Nehru was skeptical about China is brought out in the remark he made to G. Parthasarathi, who called on him on March 18, 1958, just before he left for China as Ambassador: "So, GP, what has the foreign office told you: Hindi Chini bhai bhai?`A0Don’t you believe it! I don’t trust the Chinese one bit, despite Panchsheel and all that. The Chinese are arrogant, devious, hypocritical and thoroughly unreliable. In fact, they have deliberately chosen to be anti-Indian. Your brief from me, therefore, is to be extremely vigilant about all Chinese intentions, policies and actions towards us." Pradhan says Nehru was not naive in his personal assessment of China.`A0After the Longju incident in August 1959, in his letter to the Chief Ministers on October 1, 1959, he foresaw the tension erupting into conflict and warned the Army. The author quotes Kautilya to say that it is left to the genius of a country’s leadership to make "an ally or an adversary of a neighbouring state". Nehru made consistent efforts to turn China from an adversary to a friend, but he failed. Nehru could never live down the wrong judgment he made about Chinese intentions to wage war against India in 1962. He died on May 27, 1964, a disillusioned man bequeathing the border issue to his successors. The Chinese were not able to deflect Indira Gandhi in 1971 when India decided to support the Mukti Bahini in Bangladesh. Over the years, India has gradually strengthened its economy and defences. There was a distinct change in Chinese attitude towards India after the Sumdrong Chu incident in 1986 when India decided to open a post there in response to Chinese movements in the area. Efforts commenced to persuade Rajiv Gandhi to visit China.`A0 The author quotes what Chinese Foreign Minister Wu told H. K. Dua (then working for the Hindustan Times): "The objective of talks during Rajiv Gandhi’s visit could only be to arrive at an agreement on ‘principles’. Without such an agreement, he added, no border problem could ever be resolved." Pradhan had the opportunity of briefing Rajiv Gandhi before his visit to China. The world witnessed the famous handshake of Deng Xiaoping with Rajiv Gandhi in Beijing in December 1988 followed by remarks to his ‘young friend’: "Starting with your visit we will restore our relations as friends." The agreement on ‘principles’ was worked out. The Joint Working Group set up then on the boundary question has been meeting ever since over two scores or more times. The Chinese had agreed in 1988 that the two governments would identify where the Line of Actual Control is located along the Sino-Indian border. There has been no response by China on this matter for over two decades. China has been laying claims to areas in Arunachal, particularly Tawang.`A0When it faced an international outcry before the Olympic Games, China expressed its appreciation of the Indian approach.`A0However, the tone changed soon after the conclusion of the games. Pradhan points out that India has made the mistake of not developing infrastructure in the North East all these years.`A0The policy changed last year when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visited Arunachal, called it "Our land of the Rising Sun" and announced the implementation of projects costing Rs 100 billion. The Chinese expressed displeasure over Manmohan Singh’s remarks, to which Pranab Mukherjee responded by saying that Arunachal was an integral part of India and the Prime Minister did not do anything that was not warranted by announcing schemes for the development of the region. The author points out that unless we are careful "we may find the Dragon occupying physically the space in the North East. And the people of Arunachal face the threat".
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It
was perhaps, unintentional but timely, that we have a new book written
by the first Governor of Arunachal Pradesh, R.D. Pradhan, entitled Dragon’s
Shadow over Arunachal.