India denies shift in stand on Arunachal Pradesh under Beijing pressure

India’s Foreign Minister S M Krishna and the finance ministry have categorically denied that there had been any shift in the India's stated position that Arunachal Pradesh was an integral part of India.

The BJP and other political parties have, on the other hand, hit out at the government for its alleged assurance to the World Bank that it will not seek finance for projects in Arunachal Pradesh, because of pressure from China.

While Krishna said that the government has been able to mobilize internal resources for every project in Arunachal Pradesh on its own, the finance ministry categorically stated that India has made no commitment to anyone, including to the World Bank, that India would "not pose projects pertaining to Arunachal Pradesh for funding from any multilateral development bank".

The ministry said that there had been no change in policy regarding multilaterally funded projects in various sectors or states, including projects in Arunachal. It said that no discussion between the executive directors of India and China at the World Bank or IMF can be termed as the "conclusive official stand or commitment, till it has been formally approved by the government".

The BJP had earlier on Sunday, claimed that the reported assurance from India raised "serious questions about our sovereignty and territorial integrity". "BJP condemns this assurance from the External Affairs Minister to the World Bank. This raises serious questions about the sovereignty and territorial integrity of India. We want a clarification from the government on whether this decision had cabinet approval," BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said, as he blamed NSA Shivshankar Menon for the "shift" in government position.

CPI national secretary D Raja had also sought a clarification from the government over the matter. Krishna said there was no compulsion to seek funding from international financial institutions. "If we can find internal resources to take up these projects, where is the compulsion for us to seek World Bank and Asian Development Bank or some other agency's support?" he asked.

However, a World Bank document says SM Krishna has stated that "India will not pose any Arunachal Pradesh-specific project" to the Bank, and that the Chinese executive director at the Bank is pressing for the operationalisation of this statement. Verbally, India's executive director, Pulok Chatterjee, has conveyed to the Bank that the government of India would not pose any Arunachal Pradesh-specific project to the Bank for financing.

"I also took the liberty to say that the names of the individual states would not be mentioned anywhere in the project document, and that the government of India would not be posing any Arunachal Pradesh-specific projects to the World Bank," Chatterjee wrote in a communication to finance secretary Ashok Chawla dated February 12.

This amounts to conceding China’s persistent claims of Arunachal Pradesh being a "disputed territory" and runs contrary to the stated opinion that the state is "an integral part of India".

It may be recalled that it was only eight months ago that the Indian government had sharply attacked Beijing for criticising Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Arunachal Pradesh and his reference to the state as "our land of the rising sun". India had said China has no business to interfere in the affairs of a territory that is an integral part of India.

- Asian Tribune -