Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Sunday said that those who ‘habitually threaten’ India on the ‘chicken neck corridor’ should note that Bangladesh has two such narrow strips of land, which are “far more vulnerable”.
In a post on X, Sarma said that Bangladesh has two of its own “chicken necks” and both are “far more vulnerable”.
“First is the 80 Km North Bangladesh Corridor- from Dakhin Dinajpur to South West Garo Hills. Any disruption here, can completely isolate the entire Rangpur division from rest of Bangladesh,” the Assam CM said.
“Second is the 28 km Chittagong Corridor, from South Tripura till the Bay of Bengal. This corridor, smaller than India’s chicken neck, is the only link between Bangladesh’s economic capital and political capital,” he added.
He said that Bangladesh, like India’s Siliguri Corridor, is also embedded with two narrow corridors.“I am only presenting geographical facts that some may tend to forget,” he said.
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India’s chicken’s neck, known as the Siliguri corridor, is a narrow strip of land, measuring around 22 km-35 km in width, that connects the northeast region with the rest of India.
Last month, Bangladesh chief advisor Muhammad Yunus had urged China to extend its economic influence to Bangladesh, saying that India’s northeastern states being landlocked could prove to be an opportunity.
“The seven states of India, the eastern part of India, are called the seven sisters. They are a landlocked region of India. They have no way to reach out to the ocean,” Yunus said. He called Bangladesh the “only guardian of the ocean” in the region and said this could be a massive opportunity, an extension of the Chinese economy.
The remarks by Yunus had drew sharp ire from Sarma, who described the comments as “offensive and strongly condemnable”.
Sarma had pointed out that Yunus’ remarks highlights the “persistent vulnerability narrative associated with India’s strategic ‘Chicken’s Neck’ corridor”.