By Manoranjana Gupta
China is weaponising water. International NGOs are playing accomplices. Will India allow a new “Narmada syndrome” in Arunachal, or will it seize control of its rivers, its energy, and its destiny?
China’s Water Weapon
On July 19, 2025, Beijing unveiled its most audacious gamble yet: a 60-gigawatt hydropower cascade on the Yarlung Tsangpo in Tibet. Engineered at a staggering cost of $150 billion, the dam will generate 300 terawatt hours annually — as much electricity as Britain consumes in a year.
Chinese state television called it the “project of the century.” But instead of scrutinising Beijing’s reckless diversion of a transboundary river, global media cameras were rushed to Arunachal Pradesh — not Medog. The story they chose to amplify was not about China’s megadam but about “local anger” against India’s far smaller strategic projects like Upper Siang (11.2 GW) and Dibang (2,880 MW). The contrast could not be starker.
The Protest Playbook
India has been here before. For three decades, international NGOs and their local allies have run a familiar script: Highlight “local victims”, export the story to sympathetic Western outlets, file litigation and block financing as well as delay projects until costs spiral and political will collapses.
Consider the record:
• Tehri Dam, Uttarakhand: Packaged as an ecological apocalypse, delayed two decades. Today it provides power and Delhi’s drinking water.
• Sardar Sarovar, Gujarat: Romanticised abroad as a human rights cause. But delays kept Gujarat and Rajasthan farmers hostage to drought.
• Vedanta Bauxite, Odisha: Globalised as a tribal rights struggle. The fallout crippled India’s aluminium and rare-earth competitiveness.
• Kundakulam Nuclear Plant, Tamil Nadu: “Spontaneous” protests with foreign funding links delayed reactors, raising costs by billions.
• Sterlite Copper, Tamil Nadu: A violent agitation shuttered a plant producing 40% of India’s copper, forcing imports and benefiting foreign suppliers.
Each episode followed the same template. Each time, India lost years. Each time, rivals gained.
Beijing’s Shadow in Arunachal
The Northeast, however, is not simply another industrial site. It is the frontline of sovereignty.
While China diverts the Yarlung Tsangpo through underground tunnels, funding trails quietly fuel “green activism” in India’s neighbourhood. The goal is plain: delay India’s counter-dams that could regulate river flows, protect Assam from floods, and secure downstream livelihoods.
And note the silence. No BBC crews in Tibet. No Hollywood documentaries on the ecological devastation of Namcha Barwa. Instead, constant coverage of “local protests” in Arunachal. The asymmetry is deliberate.
Assam’s ‘Flooded Reality’
For Assam, the debate is not theoretical. Each monsoon, the Brahmaputra discharges over 100,000 cubic metres per second. Villages drown, chars vanish, families are uprooted. The cycle repeats year after year.
Strategic storage dams in Arunachal could reduce flood peaks and save lives, slow erosion that swallows entire islands and provide reliable energy to power the Northeast. Yet, instead of these local realities, the narrative is recast as a clash between “tribal rights” and “national security.” This is a false dichotomy. India can — and must — build lawful dams with transparent rehabilitation and genuine community benefit-sharing. The real alternative is chaos.
Law, Legitimacy, and National Interest
India’s dilemma is not dams versus people. It is lawful development versus paralysis engineered from abroad.
The way forward requires further regulation of foreign funding to domestic NGOs that must disclose their pipelines transparently. Community partnership is imperative where Rehabilitation and livelihood guarantees must be non-negotiable. Most importantly, India must confront the global media bias that cheers Beijing’s megaprojects while demonising New Delhi’s.
History is a teacher. Tehri and Sardar Sarovar eventually succeeded despite decades of delay. Kundakulam now feeds the southern grid. Each is proof that persistence pays — but also that hesitation is costly. Delay is sabotage disguised as dissent.
Arunachal at the Crossroads
If Delhi falters now, Arunachal could become another hostage to external manipulation. Every stalled megawatt, every postponed resettlement, strengthens Beijing’s hydro-hegemony.
If Delhi acts decisively, Arunachal’s rivers could become engines of stability — taming floods, empowering communities, and securing borders. The choice is not just developmental. It is existential.
The National Choice
China is weaponising water. International NGOs and media, knowingly or otherwise, are playing accomplices. The question is not about one dam or one state. It is about whether India claims control over its rivers, or cedes that control to foreign agendas.
The lesson of the past is simple: when India hesitates, others decide its destiny. When India builds boldly but lawfully, it strengthens both democracy and sovereignty.
Call to Action
India cannot afford hesitation. Citizens, policymakers, and institutions must unite to demand transparent but decisive hydropower development in the Northeast. Support lawful resettlement, hold NGOs accountable to funding disclosures, and amplify India’s narrative globally. The choice is ours: build boldly with fairness, or watch our sovereignty erode with every monsoon.
