Patil on Arunachal

Addressing the convocation of the North East Regional Institute of Science and Technology (NERIST) in Nirjuli near Itanagar last Wednesday, President Pratibha Patil praised Arunachal Pradesh for its enchanting beauty and friendly people with varied culture and tradition. The State indeed deserves praise from every Indian for what it is; the bounties of nature are in full play and at their best in that virgin land. But the President also said: ‘‘Arunachal Pradesh, the Land of Rising Sun, may be the eastern-most State, but it was never far from the centre of the nation’s consciousness.’’ The scriptwriters of the President’s speech have got it all wrong, and we disagree, as any discerning observer of the Northeast would, with the President. The far more important question is: Since when has Arunachal Pradesh come so close to ‘‘the centre of the nation’s consciousness’’? And is it really because of the love that New Delhi nurses for the hinterland? If anything, it is the China factor — its belligerence as manifest in its claim over the entire State — and the marvel of development that it has produced on the other side of the border, with strategic ramifications for Arunachal Pradesh as also for the rest of the country, that has prompted New Delhi only in recent times to wake up to the need to protect a threatened people. If the State had never been far from the centre of the nation’s consciousness, a place like Tawang would have outwitted places like Shimla long ago. Any doubt, if you have seen both? THE SENTINEL