A Neck For A Neck? Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma Warns Bangladesh Of Its Two Chicken Necks

New Delhi : A neck for a neck? That’s what Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma seemed to indicate after he cautioned Bangladesh about its own Chicken’s Neck – not one, but two – at a time when Dhaka has raked up politics over India’s Chicken’s Neck corridor that connects the country to the North East.

“We have one Chicken’s Neck. But Bangladesh has two Chicken Necks. If Bangladesh attacks our Chicken’s Neck, we will attack both the Chicken Necks of Bangladesh… the one in Meghalaya connecting Chittagong port in Bangladesh is even thinner than India’s Chicken’s Neck and is located just a stone’s throw away,” Sarma told reporters.

While Himanta’s remarks are bound to ruffle Bangladesh’s feathers, the timing of it is significant. The warning comes against the backdrop of reports that China is allegedly helping Bangladesh in reviving a World War II-era airbase at Lalmonirhat, just 100 km from the crucial Chicken’s Neck corridor. Thus, given the strategic importance of the Siliguri Corridor, the presence of the Chinese in the area is bound to put India’s security agencies on alert.

The fresh development comes weeks after Bangladesh’s interim chief, Muhammad Yunus, brought up India’s “landlocked” northeast during his visit to China and positioned the country as the “only guardian of the ocean” for this region. The second Chicken’s Neck is believed to be the corridor south of Rangpur division that neighbours Meghalaya. The land distance from south Tripura’s Sabroom, which lies on the banks of the River Feni, to Mirsharai Upazila in Bangladesh, connecting Chittagong to the rest of the country, is about 30 km.