NEW DELHI, Jan 31: Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who arrived on a rare visit to Arunchal Pradesh on Thursday, made a point to China, which claims it, by describing the north-eastern border province as India’s very own land of the rising sun. His Indian detractors said however that he needed to be less subtle.

The main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, preparing to wrest power from Dr Singh’s fragile coalition in polls that are more than a year away but may happen sooner, goaded him to travel on to a Tibetan monastery in the state. Analysts say China would be willing to give up its claim on Arunchal Pradesh, but was not going to surrender its rights on the controversial Tawang monastery.

Press Trust of India said Dr Singh, who recently made a successful visit to China, “sent out a veiled message” to Beijing that Arunachal Pradesh is “our land of rising sun” for whose development he announced a number of schemes.

“The sun kisses India first in Arunachal Pradesh. It is our land of rising sun,” Dr Singh told a public meeting in Itanagar, on his first day of his maiden visit to this border state, parts of which China claims are its territory.

The BJP criticised Dr Singh for not including a visit to Tawang in his itinerary and said it did not give the right signal to the world.

“We are deeply concerned about the prime minister omitting visit to Tawang during his trip to Arunachal Pradesh. It is a matter of serious concern,” BJP spokesman Ravishankar Prasad told reporters in New Delhi.

Noting that Tawang has symbolic and historic significance as several Indian soldiers laid down their lives during the 1962 war with China, Mr Prasad said it was all the more important as China was laying claim on it.

“In this context, the prime minister omitting Tawang in his itinerary is a matter of great concern and BJP thoroughly disapproves of it,” the BJP spokesman said.

“When the prime minister is not visiting Tawang, the Centre is not giving the right signal,” he said.

The Indian government last week posted former army chief Gen J.J. Singh as the new governor to the state.

The move to send him to Arunachal Pradesh is said to be laced with obvious symbolism. Gen Singh visited Beijing in May last year when he laid the ground for the first ever joint exercise by the armies of the two countries.

But there were reports last week of a Chinese protest against Indian troop movements in the state of Sikkim which China tantalisingly has never accepted as part of India. The Indian government appears to have played down the reports.

Dr Singh said his government accorded the highest priority to the development of Arunachal Pradesh and announced several schemes, including two power projects and provision of electricity to every households in the state.