AAPSU says no to China’s claim, stages protest rally

Staff REPORTER*

ITANAGAR, Apr 24: Sending a louder message to Beijing that Arunachal Pradesh is an integral part of India, student activists’ under the aegis of Arunachal Pradesh Students’ Union (AAPSU) on Monday organised a mass protest rally here against China’s claim of state’s territory.
Braving inclement weather, hundreds of students carrying placards & banners and shouting anti-China slogans hit the street of the state capital denouncing China’s recent move to ‘standardised’ official names for six places in the state, which Beijing claim as part of its territory.
‘khoon bhi denge jaan bhi denge, desh ki mitti kabhi nahi denge’ (We will give our blood and life as well but in no way part with our land) ‘Bharat Mata ki jai’ rent the air as student protesters shouting slogans walked all the way from Aakashdeep to IG Park here.
The protesters also burnt the effigy of Chinese president Xin Jinping to mark the protest.
Later addressing reporters, AAPSU president Hawa Bagang while condemning Beijing’s move to rename six places in the state, said that China was unnecessarily interfering in the internal affairs of a sovereign state like India. 
“We are not Chinese nor were we one ever. Arunachalees are patriotic people and hardcore Indians. We speak Hindi here not Chinese,” said Bagang further calling upon the Central government to act tough on the issue.
“The Center should take this claim made by China seriously and come out with an early solution. At the same time, even the state government should be vocal on the subject,” he added.
Taking a dig at the state government led by Chief Minister Pema Khandu for keeping numb on the issue Bagang said, “We need a good teacher to lead us. A strong leadership is the need of the hour. Our political leaders are only after money and are not at all concerned about the real issues.”
The apex student’s organisation of state was also of the opinion that both the state and Centre should work 
together to solve the stapled visa issue which has been a long felt demand 
of the Union and citizens of Arunachal. It is pertinent to mention here that China had on April 19 last announced standardised official names for six places in Arunachal Pradesh, days after it lodged strong protests with India over the Dalai Lama’s visit to the frontier state.