The anger that is now oozing throughout Arunachal Pradesh over the Kimin episode is nothing unnatural and a ‘mistake’of this kind in any part of the country would have stirred a similar sentiment. It is most unfortunate that an important Government of India arm, the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) that has a solid presence in the state over the decades has made the blunder. The explanation citing ‘strategic reasons’ has been issued by the BRO which seems too weak to douse the angst and perceptibly, the tweet containing the misinformation by the Union Defence Minister’s office and its subsequent broadcast by a widely-viewed national news channel has given a contentious shape to the issue. It would have been most appreciable if a prompt corrigendum was issued. But since that hasn’t come as of now, the pain in the mind of the state’s people will remain and increase.

Coming to the reasons the BRO has given for projecting Kimin as a part of Assam is hardly convincing. The location where the controversy originated i.e Kimin is nowhere from the international border with China, just a 40-minute drive from the state capital and it takes 6 districts to travel to have a sight of the Indo-China border. The theory of ‘strategic reasons’ thus has no credibility and China must be in all smiles watching the proceedings. It is pertinent to add that whenever the unfriendly neighbour claims Arunachal Pradesh as their own territory, there is a response from the Centre, with the air of assertion that the state is invariably a part of India. However, the way the episode unfolded and was unnecessarily allowed to prolong, a feeling has been generated among the state’s people that India is actually wary of China. Clearly, the Union Defence Minister was completely unaware of the whole thing and should not be blamed. White pasting the name of the state and replacing it with Bilgarh, an Assam territory has been a major cause of anger among the people of Arunachal and the historical perspective of boundary dispute between the two states must also be taken into account. It has been lingering since decades and pending a decision from the Supreme Court. However, it needs no reiteration that in the majority of cases of such disputes, Arunachal, invariably has been at the receiving end and no efforts as of now have proved effective. It’s natural that a further round of undermining of the state’s territorial integrity has irked the state’s people who now long for a permanent settlement. It’s a matter of fact however that the long-pending issue, thankfully, has received renewed attention.

Whosoever has committed the mistake, the BRO or any other else, keeping in mind the sentiment of all Arunachalees, must do the needful.