Seventy years after he brought Tawang under Indian rule by reaching the area located near McMahon Line and unfurling the tricolour there, Arunachal Pradesh government on Sunday honoured Major Ralengnao Khathing with a memorial.
Arunachal Pradesh Governor Brig (Retd.) BD Mishra laid the foundation stone of the memorial at Tawang, coinciding with the day Khathing is believed to have hoisted the Indian flag in Tawang in 1951. The state government also awarded Arunachal Ratna award to Khathing.
Arunachal Pradesh chief minister Pema Khandu, Meghalaya chief minister Conrad Sangma, Union minister of state for sports and youth affairs Kiren Rijiju, Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat and family members of Khathing were present on the occasion.
“Arunachal is elated to honour its true hero Major Ralengnao ‘Bob’ Khathing with Arunachal Ratna, the highest civilian honour of the state,” chief minister Pema Khandu tweeted after the event.
Khathing, who was more popular as Bob, is relatively an unknown figure for most of India and even parts of Arunachal Pradesh. But people in Tawang still remember him with respect for establishing Indian control over the area when the threat of China loomed.
“Not many of us are aware of Major Khathing and his contribution to Arunachal Pradesh. Once the memorial is constructed, visitors will come to know about him and his contributions,” Khandu had said last month while announcing the plan to honour the hero with a memorial.
{{/usCountry}}“Not many of us are aware of Major Khathing and his contribution to Arunachal Pradesh. Once the memorial is constructed, visitors will come to know about him and his contributions,” Khandu had said last month while announcing the plan to honour the hero with a memorial.
{{/usCountry}}The memorial will highlight Khathing’s life and will also showcase traditions of the local Monpa tribe.
Born at Ukhrul in Manipur in 1912, Khathing had served in the British Army in the Second World War. He was awarded the Military Cross and received the Member of British Empire (MBE) as well.
After Independence, he was appointed as an assistant political officer in November 1950 in Tirap division and was posted in Pasighat in Arunachal Pradesh (known earlier as North East Frontier Agency-NEFA).
It is believed that he started an arduous journey on foot from Charduar on January 17, 1951 with a team of soldiers from 5 Assam Rifles, traversing difficult and inhospitable terrain to reach Tawang on February 6.
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“To establish Indian presence up to the extent of the McMahon Line, which was demarcated as the border between India and Tibet in 1914, under the terms of the Shimla Treaty, required covering the area by foot over very difficult terrain,” an Arunachal Pradesh government release said last month.
“Khathing and his troops of 5 Assam Rifles successfully accomplished this. He then met and interacted with a number of ‘gaonburhas’ (village headmen) and quickly and effectively established authority over Tawang. Indian administrative presence was thus established in this remote part of the country,” it added.