Jairam Ramesh rebuts Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju's comments on Tawang

NEW DELHI: Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Friday attacked Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju over his claim that former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru didn't want Tawang to be part of India. In a series of tweets, the Rajya Sabha MP, while describing Rijiju as a 'distorian', tweeted, "Kiren Rijiju, the latest entrant to the Modi stable of Distorians, now says Nehru did not want Tawang to be part of India."

Ramesh backed his claims by citing two top-secret telegrams which were declassified in 2018.

Quoting the two telegrams, dated March 11 and March 14, 1951 respectively and exchanged between Indian mission in Lhasa, Tibet and the Foreign Ministry in New Delhi, Ramesh said that they make India's control of Tawang amply clear. "This utter lie is exposed by two top-secret telegrams that were declassified in 2018. The first telegram is dated March 11, 1951, which Nehru would have seen as the External Affairs Minister. The second telegram is dated March 14, 1951, which Nehru would have drafted or approved as the Minister concerned," Ramesh said in a series of tweets.

He informed that both the telegrams are contained in Volume-I of "India-China Relations 1947-2000: A Documentary Study," edited by Avtar Singh Bhasin.

"The conclusion is irrefutable: the raising of the Indian flag at Tawang in early February, 1951 was a policy decision based on strategic considerations. The exact timing of the operation had been left by Nehru and others to local commanders," Ramesh concluded.

In an interview, Rijiju had claimed that in 1951 when the then Governor sent an Assam Rifles team to Tawang, it was merged with India by the paramilitary unit.

"When Nehru came to know about it, the Governor was admonished by the Prime Minister when he visited Delhi. The Congress says Arunachal Pradesh, Tawang are part of India but the Congress had refused to accept Tawang as part of India," the Law Minister was quoted as saying in the interview to a news magazine. (IANS)

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