Indian MP claims China demolished Buddha statue in Arunachal

PTI, Dec 7, 2008

Itanagar, India -- In a startling disclosure, BJP Lok Sabha member from Arunachal Pradesh K Rijju today said that the Chinese army had demolished a Buddha statue at Bumla in Indian territory using mortar shells in October last year.

Addressing a press conference here, Rijju said he did not raise the issue in Parliament since it would have aggravated Sino-Indian relations.

He said he was disclosing this because people might think the Centre had given a strong message through External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee's November 9 statement at Tawang that "no power can snatch away Arunachal or any part of it."

"We want actions not words and rhetorics", he said and added the Chinese were continuously grabbing Arunachal territory and "we have already lost our grazing fields at Samdrong Chu valley and Asha Pilla," he said.

The BJP MP wanted the Centre to build roads and other infrastructures along the McMohan line to reopen traditional border trade closed since the 1962 war.

He said he did not want to make Arunachal a battle ground but there should be a bridge between the two largest economies of the world. "Though China is our largest trading partner, we are still number 13 on their list," he said.
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