Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Monday strongly reacted to repeated remarks emerging from sections in Bangladesh suggesting the separation of Northeast India and its merger with Bangladesh, calling such notions "baseless and dangerous."
Sarma said that over the past year, statements and discussions have surfaced repeatedly in Bangladesh hinting at attempts to detach the Northeast from India. He dismissed these claims, asserting that India is a sovereign, powerful nation and such ideas are unrealistic.
Sarma had hit out at recent assertions by some groups from Bangladesh that Northeast India must be cut off and brought into Bangladesh. "India is a growing economy, a nuclear nation, and the fourth-largest economy in the world. How can Bangladesh even think of doing this?" Sarma asked.
"We should not encourage this kind of mindset. The people of Bangladesh must understand that India will not stay silent on such behavior," he added.
His strong warning was in context to a December 15 assertion in Bangladesh by Hasnat Abdullah, a senior figure of Bangladesh's newly formed National Citizen Party (NCP), who issued a provocative warning to India, saying that if needed, Bangladesh can think of "isolating" the Northeastern states if New Delhi tries to "destabilise" Bangladesh.
Earlier, Sarma had asserted that if Bangladesh targets the Chicken's Neck or Siliguri corridor, which connects the Indian mainland with the Northeast, India would retaliate by targeting both the Chicken's Necks of Bangladesh.
In the past year, several Bangladeshi civil society group leaders had tried to assert that it can cut off Northeast India through the Siliguri corridor in North Bengal, which is roughly 20-22 kilometres long.
"See, we have one Chicken's Neck. But Bangladesh has two Chicken's Necks. If Bangladesh attacks our Chicken's Neck, we will attack both the Chicken's Necks of Bangladesh. Sarma had previously stated that the Chicken's Neck of Bangladesh, located in Meghalaya and connecting Chittagong port in Bangladesh, is significantly thinner than India's Chicken's Neck and is only a short distance away.
Sarma said that the recent Operation Sindoor has already proved how strong India is and Bangladesh has "to be reborn 14 times" before attacking India. "Bangladesh is a small country and it cannot and should not be compared with India," he said.
