Short read: All about Major Bob Khathing, whose daring expedition & diplomatic parleys secured Tawang for India

If you haven’t been to Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh your life is as incomplete as it would if you haven’t been to Agra to see the Taj Mahal. Tawang is as breathtakingly beautiful as it is historical. There are four compelling reasons to visit this town which sits 15K feet high up in the Himalayas, barely 25 km from the heavily guarded Indo-Chinese border: (a) Tawang has the second largest Buddhist monastery in the world after, Lhasa; (b) Tawang is the birthirthplace of the sixth Dalai Lama, Tsangyang Gyatso, and spot by itself is an immensely spiritual location; (c) Tawang is encircled by soaring snow capped peaks and tumbling waterfalls; and (d) China covets Tawang.

What we at a Marcellus had no idea about was the man who secured this magical and strategically significant location for India, Major Bob Khathing. Thanks to Smruti Deshpande at The Print we learn that: “The decorated Naga officer from Manipur also served as envoy to Myanmar & Nagaland chief secy….Major Ralengnao ‘Bob’ Khathing…A Naga from Manipur, Khating is best known for his expedition to the remote region of Tawang in 1951 that paved the way for its integration with the rest of India.

Later, he served as Indian ambassador to Myanmar from 1972 to 1975. The Naga officer was decorated with Military Cross (MC), Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE), and later with Padma Shri in 1957. Khathing became the chief secretary of Nagaland in 1967. “

Ms Deshpande’s article sketches out the remarkable journey that Major Khathing undertook to secure Tawang. Ms Desphande writes: “As has been brought about in the book, ‘Major Bob Khathing: The Profile of a Nationalist Manipuri Naga’, by Lt. Col. H. Bhuban Singh, China officially declared Tibet as its own in 1949. Two years on, it annexed Tibet.

Khathing, who had served in the Assam Rifles, was made the Assistant Political Officer (APO) after he joined the Indian Frontier Administrative Service (IFAS), which was created to administer North East Frontier Agency (present day Arunachal Pradesh) and later some parts of the region….

Jairamdas Daulatram, the then governor of Assam, ordered the Naga officer to occupy Tawang and extend Indian administration till there. According to Lt. Col. Singh, Khathing was to establish an advanced administrative headquarters at Tawang and stay there.”

To find out how Major Khathing won over numerous tribes and secured Tawang for India without firing a bullet, you should read Smruti Deshpande’s article in full.

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