- Speaking to NDTV, the Assam chief minister said portions of the border remain unfenced
- "Any criminal committing a crime in Assam can also enter Bangladesh through Bengal," Sarma said
- Sarma also led the BJP to a decisive victory in Assam
Several "vulnerabilities" existed at West Bengal's border with Bangladesh under the Trinamool Congress government, which will be addressed now that the BJP will come to power in the state, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has said.
Speaking exclusively to NDTV's CEO and Editor-in-Chief Rahul Kanwal on Tuesday, Sarma, who also led the BJP to a decisive victory in Assam, pointed out that, among Indian states, Bengal shares the longest border with Bangladesh.
The BJP ousted the Trinamool and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee from what was seen as her Bengal fortress on Monday, winning 207 of the state's 294 seats.
Asked how the party will deal with issues like the security of the Siliguri corridor, also known as the Chicken's Neck, Sarma said, "Look, this (the BJP forming a government in Bengal) is a very big development. From the point of view of our vulnerability and national security, five states share a border with Bangladesh - Mizoram, Meghalaya, Assam, Tripura and West Bengal - and Bengal's portion is the longest. Today, because of the NDA government, there is border fencing in all of these states, except Bengal, and the Border Security Force (BSF) is working quite effectively."
But the Bengal-Bangladesh border, he said, is still open, and the previous government did not make land available for fencing.
"Any criminal committing a crime in Assam can also enter Bangladesh through Bengal. If some people enter from Bangladesh and we send them back, they can re-enter through Bengal. So that was a very, very critical gap. Because of this, the smuggling of cows and counterfeit goods, and the movement of criminals were becoming very vulnerable points," he said.
"This win will close those missing links. We will also get a chance to work on the Chicken's Neck vulnerability. So, I think it was very important for the nation that Mizoram, Meghalaya, Tripura, Assam and West Bengal work coherently to secure our border with Bangladesh. Now, finally, it has become possible. This is why I was saying yesterday that the victory in West Bengal is not the BJP's, it is India's. India has finally won," he asserted.
