NEW DELHI: India has raised stern concerns with China over its refusal to grant select Indian athletes from Arunachal Pradesh accreditation for the Asian Games in Hangzhou, claiming that this action contradicts the spirit of the sporting event and the rules governing its conduct. Union I&B and Sports Minister Anurag Singh Thakur postponed his planned trip to China for the Games as a sign of India’s protest against China’s discriminating attitude, according to a spokesperson for the External Affairs Ministry named Arindam Bagchi. India maintains the right to take “appropriate measures to safeguard our interests,” according to Bagchi. Bagchi stated, “The government of India has learned that the Chinese authorities had discriminated against certain of the Indian athletes from the state of Arunachal Pradesh by denying them accreditation and access to the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, in a targeted and premeditated way. “In keeping with our long-standing and unwavering stance, India vehemently rejects treating Indian nationals differently based on their place of residence or ethnicity. According to him, Arunachal Pradesh has always been and will always be a crucial and intrinsic component of India. Bagchi claimed that there has been a big outcry against China’s “deliberate and selective obstruction” of certain of our athletes in New Delhi and Beijing.
