Why Is Arunachal Protesting Against The Siang Dam? | 'Shield' Against China Or A Ticking Time Bomb? — Transcript

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1. 0:00Generally, news from the Northeast rarely makes headlines in the national media.
2. 0:04However, for the past few days, news from Pasighat in Arunachal Pradesh generated a lot of discussion.
3. 0:09Suddenly, a flood of reports comes in about how riots have broken out here.
4. 0:12Police vehicles have been set on fire. Stones have been pelted. Tear gas has been fired.
5. 0:17The central government has airlifted 250 Rapid Action Force personnel to Arunachal Pradesh.
6. 0:23But the truth that has been completely omitted
7. 0:26from the national media’s prime-time debates and the government’s press releases is...
8. 0:30This is not an ordinary law-and-order matter.
9. 0:33This is an outcry over land that the government is set to submerge underwater forever, fo a mega infrastructure project.
10. 0:43And the government also has a reasoning
11. 0:45Because, on one hand, China’s 60,000 megawatt Medog Super Dam project is being built.
12. 0:52The largest hydro engineering project in the history of the world.
13. 0:55It is right across the LAC
14. 0:58and now New Delhi’s latest masterstroke on our side of the LAC
15. 1:02Siang Upper Multipurpose Project: A massive 11,200 MW reservoir
16. 1:08Which the Indian government describes as its greatest shield against China.
17. 1:13The government's argument is quite simple, if we are not allowed to build this dam
18. 1:18So tomorrow when there is tension with China, Beijing will either stop the water of Brahmaputra
19. 1:24or it could unleash millions of tonnes of water, submerging the entirety of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh.
20. 1:30But is this claim true?
21. 1:33Can our own dam protect us from China’s tactics?
22. 1:37Or are we being sold yet another new, grand, and expensive jumla in the name of national security?
23. 1:42Why is it that the leaders who took to the streets in 2010 to protest against this very dam...
24. 1:48Now that they became a minister, they have the police use batons to push forward the completion of this very dam.
25. 1:55And if this massive concrete reservoir, built in the fragile hills of Seismic Zone V..
26. 2:00If it were to break one day, would any city—from Pasighat all the way to Dibrugarh and Guwahati—even continue to exist?
27. 2:08Are anti-dam protesters really foreign-funded?
28. 2:12Can protests in our country today not take place on their own strength?
29. 2:15...do we have to take money from abroad every time there is protest?
30. 2:20Or those who are not listening to the people of Arunachal, who fail to understand the concerns of the indigenous tribe
31. 2:26They are the true traitors to the country?
32. 2:29This issue is complex, and that is why it is quite important to understand the facts.
33. 2:34Let's start from Pasighat in Arunachal Pradesh.
34. 2:37Where a single government decision set the entire region ablaze.
35. 2:40It has incensed the people, and this anger does not stem from some petty party politics.
36. 2:46It has nothing to do with the election. Here, it is a question of people’s lives and their heritage.
37. 2:52The Modi government, without informing the locals, without taking any permission from them or consulting them
38. 2:58They quietly initiated a survey on the ground by the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation, or NHPC.
39. 3:05Technically speaking, this was just a pre-feasibility survey for the dam.
40. 3:09But there is so much doubt in the minds of the people about the government that they have accepted that
41. 3:14Because of this, their land is now about to be taken away from them.
42. 3:21The law states that without the consent of the Adivasis, not even a bird can stir in their mountains, rivers, or forests.
43. 3:29But who cares about the law in the new India.
44. 3:32Instead of winning the trust of the local tribal people,
45. 3:35the government deployed survey teams into tribal areas, backed by a heavy police force.
46. 3:41Now people have understood the whole game
47. 3:43The very government they elected, is bent on taking their own freedom, the land of their ancestors
48. 3:51That too without any planning, without any compensation plan.
49. 3:55Now, it is only natural that people will take to the streets.
50. 3:58The Adi community of Arunachal Pradesh is the most affected by this mega-dam project.
51. 4:03Whose identity and existence have been linked to this very valley for the past several centuries.
52. 4:09And the total population displacement being discussed as a result of the dam involves more than 150,000 people.
53. 4:17Initially, this protest was peaceful.
54. 4:20Village elders, women, and school and college students stand like a wall in the path of the NHPC officials.
55. 4:28They sit down in front of the survey machinery.
56. 4:30They began sending the survey teams back, along with their vehicles.
57. 4:34Their message was clear - not a single brick would be laid for a dam on Siang without the consent of the tribal community.
58. 4:43Now you know the government's attitude. They don't know how to bow down to the public, they don't know how to talk.
59. 4:48So, the voices of the people were ignored.
60. 4:52Instead of listening or engaging in dialogue, the approach shifted to the use of batons and the filing of FIRs.
61. 4:59And as soon as the government revealed its monstrous side, the people’s patience finally gave way.
62. 5:05And the anger turns into a fierce rage. Barricades are broken down.
63. 5:10Thousands of people surround government offices
64. 5:14When the police began using tear gas and batons, the police vehicles themselves were set on fire in retaliation.
65. 5:22This is no ordinary riot or disturbance taking place here.
66. 5:25Here, people are fighting a battle to save their existence—to prevent their civilization from being wiped out.
67. 5:32And that is why people are going to the homes of the local MLAs and cabinet ministers, knocking on their doors,
68. 5:41and calling them traitors.
69. 5:43Faced with this flare-up on the ground, the government once again resorted to the same old approach.
70. 5:48Instead of listening or resolving the problem, they began deploying even more forces.
71. 5:55In that sensitive belt near Pasighat, 250 riot-control commandos from the Rapid Action Force immediately deployed via aircraft.
72. 6:05In Pulwama, repeated requests to airlift security forces were not given
73. 6:11Our forces martyred.. But as soon as the Modi government is threatened, whether in Delhi or Arunachal Pradesh,
74. 6:19The forces are immediately airlifted. What a national security.
75. 6:23And the government is not seeing that adjacent to China, just 100 kilometers away from the LAC
76. 6:29In a strategic state whose people have always stood as the first line of defense for India.
77. 6:35Today, the government has deployed the RAF against those very same Adivasis.
78. 6:41Because they dared to stand up to the government. They dared to question the government.
79. 6:46Those in power felt that, as in other states of India,
80. 6:49Farmers, students, and laborers have been suppressed through the use of batons, barricades, police action, and sticks.
81. 6:56Through an arbitrary, high-handed decree—and by filing FIRs—the protest has been halted. It has been suppressed.
82. 7:01In the same way, people in the tribal areas of the North East will also be silenced.
83. 7:06But this is the North East... People here, too, do not know how to bow down.
84. 7:11Go and ask the Congress government. Take a look at the pages of history.
85. 7:15Force will not work here. When it comes to land, existence, and identity—it does not matter who holds the gun.
86. 7:23Whether it is the government or the army—instead of giving in, the people will fight to the very last breath.
87. 7:29However, the government states that the construction of a dam here is a significant factor
88. 7:34for the country's security and the development of the North East.
89. 7:38So, are these people who oppose the dam 'anti-national'?
90. 7:42They are working against their own development?
91. 7:45It is important to understand.
92. 7:47Even when the government gives mines, airports and ports to its friends,
93. 7:52Even then, some justification or other is found to show that everything was done in a proper manner.
94. 7:55The reason here is solid.
95. 7:58National security, threat from China
96. 8:01And if anyone raises any questions about the dam, you can easily label them as 'anti-development' or 'anti-national'.
97. 8:07But let’s look at what the facts say. This is the Yarlung Tsangpo River.
98. 8:13It begins by passing through the deep Yarlung Tsangpo Grand Canyon within Tibet.
99. 8:19It enters India near Gelling, which is in Arunachal Pradesh.
100. 8:24This is what we then call Siang River.
101. 8:27And this very river goes on to join the Dibang and Lohit rivers, becoming the mighty Brahmaputra.
102. 8:34The Yarlung Tsangpo acts like a politician within the Namcha Barwa Canyon and takes a u-turn
103. 8:42it is called the great bend
104. 8:44And it is here that China has begun work on its most ambitious project, known as the Medog Super Dam.
105. 8:51The proposed capacity of this project is 60,000 megawatts.
106. 8:55Three times the capacity of the world's largest existing dam, the Three Gorges Dam
107. 9:03We have created a detailed video about the risks this project could pose to our country... no debate the threat is real
108. 9:11Clearly, such a massive hydroelectric project located near the border has become a serious matter for India.
109. 9:19The Indian government's fear is rooted in two things.
110. 9:22First, if tensions were to arise between the two countries in the future, Beijing could close the gates of this dam
111. 9:27and cause a drought in the Brahmaputra.
112. 9:31And secondly, what if Beijing were to suddenly release millions of tons of water all at once,
113. 9:36or if Medog were to collapse due to some disaster?
114. 9:41So, a flood will come—one that will be nothing short of a cataclysm—
115. 9:46Which will devastate everything, from the mountains of Arunachal to the plains of Assam.
116. 9:52The govt states that Siang Upper Multipurpose Project (SUMP) is crucial for the country in order to address this very threat.
117. 10:00A massive 11,200 MW dam, which will also become the country’s largest dam project.
118. 10:06The government says that this dam is not an ordinary electricity generation project.
119. 10:10Rather, we should view it as a strategic counter-shield.
120. 10:14If China suddenly releases water from upstream
121. 10:18So this dam of ours will hold all the water in its huge reservoir
122. 10:23And if China cuts off the water supply, we can prevent the Brahmaputra from drying up by releasing water from our own reservoirs.
123. 10:30At first glance, this logic seems perfectly sound. It feels like a masterstroke.
124. 10:35But once you understand the river hydrology and the data and the ground reality,
125. 10:41Here, you will come across a great many hollow jumlas
126. 10:46Hydrological data clearly indicates that 60 to 65% of the water in the Brahmaputra River does not, in fact, flow in from Tibet.
127. 10:55The water comes from heavy rains in Arunachal Pradesh and from tributaries like the Subansiri, Dibang, and Lohit.
128. 11:05This means that if, for instance, China were to block 100% of the Yarlung’s water within Tibet tomorrow...
129. 11:13Even during the lean season, the flow will certainly decrease, but the Brahmaputra will never dry up completely
130. 11:21And an even greater absurd is the logic that we should respond to a dam built by China by constructing another dam
131. 11:28And that, too, at a point where a massive 60,000-megawatt dam bursts.
132. 11:34...a heavy discharge, and we will be able to contain that kinetic force downstream using a smaller 11,200-megawatt dam?
133. 11:43That will not happen. If the Chinese dam were ever to break, the resulting devastation would be unstoppable.
134. 11:48On the contrary, this dam will also be destroyed, and the water will surge downstream toward Assam bringing devastation
135. 11:53Furthermore, our greatest diplomatic failure has been
136. 11:57There is no binding water-sharing treaty between India and China.
137. 12:01...just a few worthless MoUs, for which China had begun withholding hydrological data as early as the 2017 Doklam standoff.
138. 12:10If we were to attempt to catch Beijing within some legal framework on international forums...
139. 12:17...it will prove unsuccessful, and now, by erecting a mountain of cement, we are attempting to use that failure as a shield.
140. 12:23If this dam provides us with security against China—if it is in the national interest—then I will fully support it.
141. 12:29But if you look at the logic—point by point—a small downstream dam cannot serve as a shield against China.
142. 12:38At least, if you aren't part of the WhatsApp University you won't see any logic in this.
143. 12:43Another big thing, let's accept that we won't get shielded from China but the argument could still be made that...
144. 12:5211,000 MW hydroelectric project—the largest in the country.
145. 12:56Will the entire North East actually get developed or not?
146. 12:59People in the North East understand and perceive the environment far better than the bureaucrats sitting in Delhi.
147. 13:06And the truth is that the Himalayas are not composed of a stable rock structure.
148. 13:11In fact, it is the youngest mountain in the world—where the Indian tectonic plate and the Eurasian plate collide
149. 13:21And where this Siang Upper Dam is proposed, China’s Medog Dam is also being constructed on the other side of the LAC.
150. 13:29This entire area falls within one of the world's most active and violent earthquake zones.
151. 13:34China's Medog Dam is being built right on the Paizhen fault line
152. 13:39And our project is proposed downstream from that, at the junction of the Main Central Thrust and the Main Boundary Thrust.
153. 13:47This simply means that both countries are sitting on an active fault line, playing a deadly game of chance.
154. 13:56In this, it is only the people living there who stand to lose.
155. 14:00People sitting in Delhi and Mumbai often forget that the Himalayas have frequently given us warnings.
156. 14:06Due to a Glacial Lake Outburst Flood (GLOF) event in Sikkim
157. 14:11The 1200-megawatt Chungthang Dam of the Teesta III project is swept away like a straw in a matter of minutes.
158. 14:18Dozens of people lost lives. And what happened over in Chamoli?
159. 14:22Recall the tunnel at Tapovan where, following a sudden surge of debris and water, workers and engineers were fatally stuck
160. 14:31And there is no need to reiterate what happened recently in Nepal.
161. 14:34We made some very detailed episodes. Reports indicate over 5,000 victims... bodies are still being found.
162. 14:43Now, imagine what would happen if an earthquake with a magnitude greater than eight were to strike within Seismic Zone V.
163. 14:49And what would happen if, at the same time, a heavy cloudburst were to occur?
164. 14:53That will not be an ordinary dam-collapse incident. We are talking about a tsunami.
165. 14:59Which will come down the mountain, carrying millions of tons of debris and water.
166. 15:07It will completely bury the cities, all the way up to Guwahati.
167. 15:12But the danger is not limited to sudden earthquakes.
168. 15:15When the Siang River flows down from the mountains, it brings with it
169. 15:19It brings along millions of tonnes of organic silt and fertile soil, which bind the banks of the Brahmaputra.
170. 15:28And when you build an 11,200-megawatt dam and trap all that natural sediment and silt inside the reservoir...
171. 15:36So, the water that emerges from the dam will be completely devoid of sediment—in other words, 'hungry' water.
172. 15:42When this 'hungry' water reaches the plains of Assam, it will begin to cut away at the riverbanks, causing erosion.
173. 15:51The ground will begin to sink. Fields will turn into swamps.
174. 15:55The question arises: when the indigenous people of Arunachal are opposed to this, the people of Assam will be unable to endure this
175. 16:02And with the country’s top geologists calling it a gamble, in whose interest is this project actually being developed?
176. 16:09For the balance sheets of power companies, for the sake of the government’s ego, or for the sake of friends?
177. 16:16Those who support the dam look at government statistics.
178. 16:19An 11,200 MW project, with a revenue target of thousands of crores.
179. 16:29But for the indigenous communities who lived here for many centuries, this river—the Siang—is known to them as 'Ane Siang'.
180. 16:38Their mother, their religious beliefs, their customs, their land, their very existence—everything is connected to this river.
181. 16:46If you are snatching Siang from them and converting it into a reservoir,
182. 16:52So, you are not just building a dam on a river.
183. 16:54You are putting the final seal on an entire tribal civilizational heritage.
184. 17:00The land of the indigenous community is not a commodity up for sale—that you can simply acquire by handing over a cheque
185. 17:07The land is their very existence. It constitutes their entire being.
186. 17:12Those who stood with the Indian Army against China for the sake of the country in 1962.
187. 17:17Just think about it—they are the ones being turned into refugees, and this is something they find completely unacceptable.
188. 17:24That is why the large boards put up in every village are a direct slap in the face to the government.
189. 17:30People have made it clear that we do not want the schools run by your corporations. We do not want your hospitals.
190. 17:37We do not want your compensation. We only want our ancestral land and our freedom.
191. 17:43And NHPC, along with their entire entourage must immediately vacate our land.
192. 17:50When the govt saw that the people here were not backing down, it resorted to the same old formula
193. 17:58Some people in the village have had their pockets filled, and an attempt has been made to show
194. 18:04That there is a segment—a community—that supports us,
195. 18:07A division has emerged within the tribal community regarding the dam.
196. 18:14But the truth is that the common tribal knows very well that this development is not for their benefit
197. 18:20but for the benefit of the bigger people.
198. 18:2611 crore has been spent on PR to convince the people
199. 18:35It is being said that anyone opposing this dam is an enemy of development or is being branded a Chinese agent.
200. 18:45When there was a shortage of real influencers, virtual influencers were created using AI.
201. 18:50To highlight the positive aspects of the dam, and to discredit the protests.
202. 18:58Now, against those who are still not ready to bow down, the government has started using its most dangerous law.
203. 19:05Arunachal Pradesh Unlawful Activities Prevention Act i.e. APUAPA
204. 19:10Under which already, the most important face of Siang Indigenous Farmers Forum or SIFF
205. 19:17Youth wing president Adum Tayom has been taken into custody.
206. 19:22Because his mistake was raising his voice for the farmers.
207. 19:27He had been raising questions about the project. He was initially reported missing from Pasighat.
208. 19:32After that, suddenly presented at the Itanagar police station.
209. 19:36And the administration placed him under preventive detention, citing public security and violence.
210. 19:41If you think that this struggle is merely a conflict between the stubbornness of the Adivasis and the government...
211. 19:47So, take a look at these faces, and then examine their past records.
212. 19:52Those who are currently in the cabinet in Itanagar are trying to push this project through at all costs.
213. 19:58between 2010 and 2014 when the previous government signed the MoU for this mega dam project.
214. 20:05These same leaders took to the streets
215. 20:08...gave speeches against NHPC and shouting loudly that
216. 20:12We will not allow even a single brick to be laid on the Siang.
217. 20:15Today, money and power have completely transformed the entire ideology.
218. 20:19Those who were against this dam till yesterday, today the same people are hiding behind police batons and RAF.
219. 20:25They are trying to forcibly impose this project on the common people.
220. 20:29The moment one secures a position of power, all the pain rooted in one’s origins simply vanishes
221. 20:35In its place, profits and figures begin to appear.
222. 20:38When the locals caught on to this duplicity by the politicians, the central and state machinery resorted to legal loopholes.
223. 20:45The Forest Conservation (Amendment) Act, 2023, serves as most significant weapon.
224. 20:50A dangerous clause has been inserted in this law
225. 20:55Under this, any area falling within 100 km of the LAC will be considered a strategic project.
226. 21:02And there is no need for any environmental clearance. There is no need to worry about forest clearances.
227. 21:08This simply means that now there is no need for the NOC of the Gram Sabha.
228. 21:14There is no compulsion to accept traditional forest rights.
229. 21:17And when someone raises their voice on behalf of the people, a notice is sent to them.
230. 21:21Civil society groups that were trying to raise their voice for human rights for tribals
231. 21:27Now, they been charged with FCRA violations, and bank accounts have been frozen.
232. 21:32But the government must understand that it cannot suppress the voices of ordinary people by using the police.
233. 21:39When you try to trample on the age-old rights of border populations like this,
234. 21:46You are not strengthening the nation's security. Instead, you are igniting a fire of rebellion
235. 21:51Which no one will be able to extinguish later.
236. 21:54Look at Manipur, it has been burning for three years.
237. 21:57Now it seems the same plan is being implemented for Arunachal Pradesh.
238. 22:00This entire struggle is not just about a dam, a few thousand megawatts of electricity, or a few square km of land.
239. 22:07This battle is also about the crucial question: what do development and national security mean in the country?
240. 22:12Who will decide this? A government bureaucrat will decide, or some wealthy tycoon will decide?
241. 22:16Who do not even know how the existence of the tribals is linked to this river? Its importance.
242. 22:25The DGP, under whose watch four unarmed people lives taken during protests in Leh, has not been punished.
243. 22:33He was sent to Arunachal and now the same violence is being repeated.
244. 22:37You are submerging the ancient land of those tribals, their sacred river, their culture, their existence under water
245. 22:45You cannot claim that you have strengthened the country against China.
246. 22:50If the government truly wishes to counter China’s water aggression, there are other ways to do so.
247. 22:56First of all, stop deploying paramilitary forces against the tribal people.
248. 22:59Start building diplomatic coalitions in other international forums.
249. 23:03Start building global pressure for bilateral treaties. Begin winning the trust of the people living along the border.
250. 23:11Try it. And there is no need for China to increase the flow of water into the dam or the volume of water released from it.
251. 23:17China is currently exporting $130 billion worth of goods every year—if it will put a stop to that
252. 23:23Our economic situation will turn into a catastrophe.
253. 23:26If someone fails to see all this or fails to grasp it even when they have the capacity to understand,
254. 23:30So, these people are not fools. They are the true traitors to our country.