‘We should name 60 areas’: Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma on China naming 30 Arunachal Pradesh places

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, responding to a question on China releasing another list of 30 geographical areas in Arunachal Pradesh, said that the response from India should be ‘tit-for-tat’. He said for the 30 names China released, India should rename 60 areas from the Tibetan area of China. 

“My request to the government of India – we should give list of 60 geographical names of the Tibetan area of China. It should always be tit-for-tat. But I don’t want to comment because it is a policy decision of the government of India. But if they have named 30, we should name 60,” said Sarma to reporters on Tuesday. 

The ongoing war of words between India and China intensified after Beijing released another list of standardised geographical names in the frontier state of Arunachal Pradesh that it recognises as Zangnan. Thirty additional publicly used names in the region have been released officially. This is the fourth such list, with the first three being released in 2017, 2021 and 2023. 

India rejected China’s attempts at claiming the region as part of their territory. "We firmly reject such attempts. Assigning invented names will not alter the reality that Arunachal Pradesh is, has been, and will always be an integral and inalienable part of India,” said Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal.

External minister S Jaishankar also reacted to China’s list of names and asked, “If today I change the name of your house, will it become mine?”

The opposition slammed the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for its “subdued response”. Former finance minister P Chidambaram said that instead of straining relations between India and Sri Lanka over the Katchatheevu island issue after 50 years, PM Modi and S Jaishankar should show their belligerence to China. “Let the government show its belligerence to China. Under the BJP government, China has occupied 2000 square km of Indian territory and is fortifying the area. China is on a re-naming spree and is merrily changing the names of villages and landmarks. Why is the Foreign Minister subdued in his response to the actions of China?” he asked.

Geostrategist Brahma Chellaney said that China has upped its ante over Arunachal Pradesh but India is yet to shed its “defensive mindset”. India’s risk-averse and reactive reaction keeps giving China a free hand to keep provoking India, he said. He said that India prefers to “play victim” instead of “proactively countering enemy designs”.