DHAKA: Wading into a foreign policy issue for the first time, Narendra Modi on Saturday asked China to shed its ‘expansionist mindset’, making it clear that no power on earth can snatch Arunachal Pradesh from India.

‘China should shed its expansionist policy and forge bilateral ties with India for peace, progress and prosperity of both the nations,’ the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate said addressing a meeting in Arunachal Pradesh in his current election campaign.

‘Arunachal Pradesh is an integral part of India and will always remain so. No power can snatch it from us. People of Arunachal Pradesh didn`t come under pressure or fear of China,’ he said, reports The Times of India.

‘I swear in the name of this soil that I will never allow the state to disappear...breakdown and to bow down,’ Modi said to a thunderous applause from people gathered near the mighty Siang River.

He said China should shed its expansionist mindset because the world of today does not accept it. The entire world is moving towards development, he said.

BDST: 2057 HRS, FEB 22, 2014