In a state like Arunachal, people must be stakeholders in development

Sudeep Chakravarti

Instead of offering transparency and demonstrable governance, why would you create conditions for dissatisfaction and dissent in one of the country’s most strategically sensitive and vulnerable regions? That query of course holds true across India, with transparency and governance a democratic ask. Strategic sensitivity and vulnerability add another layer, with—at present count—fully 18 of India’s 28 states and eight Union Territories sharing international borders; and 13 states and Union Territories lie on the coast.

Even within this map, what India’s policymakers must grapple with in Arunachal Pradesh is of special import. The 1,110-km-plus border there with China remains disputed by China, and there are incidents of border incursions by that country’s soldiers across the so-called McMahon Line that marks the border to which India holds true and China dismisses. The other games China plays include taunting India by renaming Arunachal Pradesh as ‘South Tibet’ and creating an incident with visas each time an Arunachal resident, from businessperson to sportsperson, seeks a visa to visit China.

The upsurge of protests since October and attempts to brutally curtail them, centre around the proposed 11,200 Mw Siang Upper Multipurpose Project, or SUMP. Protesters were—and are—livid about the massive project on the upper reaches of the Siang, as the Brahmaputra is called during its journey between the upstream Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) and downstream Assam. Longtime inhabitants of this area in the northeastern part of Arunachal Pradesh, drawn from several tribes, fear submergence of their homes and homelands.

The pushback has come primarily from NHPC Ltd, which fronts the hydropower projects. A relatively recent narrative, attendant since China announced its intention for the so-called Great Bend project on the Yarlung Tsangpo in 2020, took greater root in 2024, when the massive 60,000 Mw hydropower project, now renamed Medog Hydropower Station received the formal go ahead.