Amid military stand-off between the Indian and Chinese soldiers at the Galwan Valley and other areas along the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh during which 20 soldiers were martyred, an online petition addressed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been launched for the renaming of Panchsheel Marg outside the Chinese Embassy in New Delhi’s Chanakyapuri “as the Dalai Lama Marg.” The Chinese Embassy has three roads around it, Shanti Path, Panchsheel Marg and Nayaya Marg.
The online campaign, started by Delhi’s former special secretary in the home department, Om Prakash Mishra in his personal capacity on social media, has garnered support from bureaucrats, businessmen and students, among others. Mishra is currently posted in the Lakshadweep as Secretary. The online campaign has has garnered support from bureaucrats, businessmen and students, among others. Over 450 people have signed the petition so far.
According to the petition, “Panchsheel” was the treaty between India and China in 1954. The then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru advocated this treaty. “We named one of the most important roads in Chanakyapuri to mark the importance of the treaty as Panchsheel Marg. Panchsheel means the five principles which formed the basis of Indo-Sino relationship—mutual respect for each other’s territorial integrity and sovereignty, mutual non-aggression, mutual non-interference in each other’s internal affairs, equality and mutual benefit, and peaceful co-existence. Sadly, this treaty survived only on paper.”
“Panchsheel was the basis of the Non-Aligned Movement. But China never had any respect for the treaty, while India made big publicity about the Panchsheel,” says Mishra, pointing out that China violated time and again the territorial integrity of India and waged wars. “We continue with a failed Nehruvian legacy, the name of the road, Panchsheel Marg.”