Jay Panda gives Beijing taste of its medicine, asks if India should rename Chinese places

Baijayant Jay Panda, BJP's National Vice President on Sunday, hit back at China over its recent provocation to emphasise its claim over the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh. The BJP leader's reaction came in connection with China releasing the standardised names of 11 places for Arunachal Pradesh, which it calls "Zangnan, the southern part of Tibet" in accordance with regulations on geographical names issued by the State Council, China's cabinet. 

BJP's Baijayant Jay Panda hits back at China

In a bid to give Beijing the taste of its medicine, Baijayant Panda named certain places within Chinese boundaries and cited its Indian connections as well as identity based on history. He tweeted a poll question asking people's opinion on whether India should take the same step and rename those places. 

Taking to Twitter, he asked about four places and suggested their Indian names:-

• When the Han Empire annexed Yunnan 2,000 years ago, there was an Indian settlement there called Shendu. Let’s start referring to that area as Sindhu Nagar?
• 800 years ago, there was a Tamil settlement in what is now Quanzhou City, with more than a dozen temples. Perhaps we should refer to it as New Kanchipuram?
• The famous Mogao caves in today’s Gansu province have many Indian-style murals & sculptures. How about we call it Ajanta East?
• Today’s Xinjiang province was only named thus in the 19th century after splitting Turkestan with Russia. But until a thousand years ago, a part of it (the Tarim Basin) was Indic in culture, a thriving part of the Sanskritic world where the people spoke Gāndhārī language. Let’s call it Gandharva Pradesh?

China has reportedly “renamed” some places inside our Arunachal Pradesh. So, based on long standing historical Indian connections & identity, i wonder whether we shouldn’t do the same to places that today happen to be inside the current boundaries of China?
Please read & vote👇…

— Baijayant Jay Panda (@PandaJay) April 9, 2023

The poll garnered a total of 127.9 thousand views, 5,880 votes and still counting. 94% of people agreed with 'yes we should' i.e India should also rename the states while 6% said 'No, we should not'.

India Rejects China's renaming attempt

India on Tuesday, retaliated against China over its intensified provocation to emphasise its claim over Arunachal. The Ministry of External Affairs outrightly rejected China's attempt and asserted that Arunachal will always be an integral part of India.

"We have seen such reports. This is not the first time China has made such an attempt. We reject this outright. Arunachal Pradesh is, has been, and will always be an integral and inalienable part of India. Attempts to assign invented names will not alter this reality," MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said in a statement.

The US has recognised Arunachal Pradesh as an integral part of India and strongly opposes any unilateral attempts to advance territorial claims by renaming localities, the White House has said. "The United States has recognised that territory (Arunachal Pradesh) for a long time (as an integral part of India). And we strongly oppose any unilateral attempts to advance territorial claims by renaming localities,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on Tuesday.

"And so, again, this is something that we have long stood by,” Jean-Pierre told reporters at her daily news conference.

According to reports, this is the third batch of standardised geographical names for Arunachal Pradesh that has been issued by the China's Civil Affairs Ministry. The first attempt to rename names was made in 2017, followed by the second attempt in 2021. however, India has dismissed the move of China to rename the places in Arunachal Pradesh, by mentioning that the state has always been and will always be an integral part of India.