Ruling BJP in Arunachal Pradesh should have South Block fretting. Its MP and State party President Tapir Gao insists Chinese soldiers had built a “wooden bridge nearly 75 km inside Indian territory”. The Army rubbishes it with “no such incursion.”

Gao’s claim is based on a local villager, who had sighted the bridge when he went to the woods to fish/hunt and sent him a video. As the area’s representative, Gao says he can’t hide it and even spells out the location of the bridge. Incursion, he adds is a regular phenomenon” and ‘PLA troops had entered in other areas, too!”

On the other hand, Army explains: the area referred to is called “Fish Tail”; there is a differing perception of LoC alignment, as in many other areas; patrolling is from either side; civilian hunters/herb collectors also frequent there during summer months; there is no permanent presence of either Chinese soldiers or civilians there and surveillance is maintained by our troops. The MP counters insisting there are no nearby villages and local villagers know who has built bridges. Whom to believe and will South Block step in to bridge the gap?