Arunachal Pradesh minister Balo Raja has defended India’s strength and intelligence capabilities while questioning reported remarks by Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) chief Shatrujeet Singh Kapur about continuing face-offs with Chinese forces along the border.
Speaking to reporters in Itanagar on Tuesday, Raja questioned why a senior officer is passing remarks that could create the impression that India is weak.
“Why make statements like that when you are a DG? Why perceive yourself as weak? India is very strong. You must have seen the ‘Dhurandhar’ movie; watch it, and you will see how much India’s intelligence capabilities have grown,” Raja stated.
The remarks came amid a political controversy over Kapur’s reported comments on confrontations at several locations along the India-China frontier in Arunachal Pradesh.
Addressing ITBP personnel at an event in Alwar, Rajasthan, on October 22, Kapur reportedly discussed the face-offs and praised the force’s newly raised Shaurya commando teams for their role in handling them.
He also stressed the need to modernise weapons and equipment and improve the force’s response to emerging security challenges, including drone warfare.
Kapur reportedly described China as India’s “biggest adversary” and said that traditional warfare methods were no longer sufficient to counter the threat.
The comments drew heated political reactions, with opposition leaders seeking clarification from the Centre about the border situation and the circumstances surrounding the confrontations.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) also addressed the issue, referring questions about the specifics of Kapur’s remarks to the Ministry of Defence.
During a briefing on Friday, the MEA said that Chinese forces occasionally disrupted the situation along the border by departing from established patrolling patterns.
“Insofar as the specifics are concerned, I would refer you to the Ministry of Defence. As we have noted in the past, the situation in the India-China border areas gets disturbed from time to time when Chinese forces diverge from established patrolling patterns. Both sides continue to use existing diplomatic and military mechanisms to resolve outstanding issues and avoid misunderstanding and miscalculation along the Line of Actual Control,” the MEA said.
