Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to celebrate Dussehra with soldiers in Tawang

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will celebrate Dussehra with Army soldiers at a forward base in Arunachal Pradesh’s Tawang on Tuesday, sources in the security establishment said. The defence minister is also set to perform “Shastra Puja” (worship of weapons) in Tawang, they said. Singh’s decision to celebrate Dussehra with the soldiers at the strategically important location that is close to the Line of Actual Control (LAC) comes at a time when India and China have been engaged in a bitter standoff in certain friction points in eastern Ladakh for more than three years. The defence minister will also carry out a comprehensive review of the ground situation along the LAC in the Arunachal Pradesh sector, the sources said. He is also expected to visit a few forward locations in the region. Singh has been performing “Shastra Puja” on Dussehra for the last several years, including during his tenure as the Union home minister in the previous BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government. The Indian and Chinese troops are locked in an over-three-year-long confrontation in certain friction points in eastern Ladakh even as the two sides have completed disengagement from several areas following extensive diplomatic and military talks. India has been maintaining that its ties with China cannot be normal unless there is peace in the border areas. The Army has significantly bolstered the deployment of troops and weaponry along the nearly 3,500-km-long LAC, including in the Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh sectors, following the eastern Ladakh standoff.