Assam Chief Minister Himanta Vishwa Sharma on Tuesday called for prioritizing the discovery of alternative routes to connect the northeast to the rest of India, bypassing the statement of Bangladesh Chief Advisor Mohammad Yunus as “aggressive and highly condemnable”.
Describing Bangladesh as “the only patron of the ocean” in the region, Younus appealed to China to increase its economic influence in Bangladesh and mentioned that being surrounded by land around the northeastern states of India could prove to be an opportunity in this regard.
Yunus made this comment during his recent four -day visit to China and its video appeared on social media on Monday. Sharma wrote on the social media forum ‘X’, “The statement made by the so -called interim government chief Mohammad Yunus is derogatory and grossly condemnable, in which he described seven states of Northeast India as surrounded by land and described Bangladesh as the patron of his marine reach.”
He said, “Such inflammatory statements of Mohammad Yunus should not be taken lightly, as these (statement) reflect intensive strategic ideas and long -term agendas.” Younus said, “Seven states in the eastern region of India are called ‘seven sisters’ (Seven Sistors). They are areas surrounded by land from all around. They have no way to reach the sea. ”
Yunus made this statement during his recent four -day visit to China. A video of this emerged on social media on Monday. Sharma said that this remark underlines “India’s strategic ‘chicken neck” corridor.
Sharma called for prioritizing the search for alternative roadways connecting the Northeast to the rest of India to effectively deal with the ‘chicken neck’ problems.
He said, “Historically, the internal elements of India have also given dangerous suggestions to cut this important path to separate the Northeast from the mainland, so it is necessary to develop more strong railway and road networks under and around the ‘Chicken Neck’ corridor.”
He said that this can cause major engineering challenges but it is possible with “determination and innovation”. The strategically important ‘Siliguri corridor’ is called ‘chicken neck’ due to its size. It is a strip of land located in the north of West Bengal, which is slightly more than 20 kilometers. This narrow strip connecting the Northeast to the rest of India is between Nepal and Bangladesh and Bhutan and China are not far away from it.
