Agartala/Guwahati: Pradyot Bikram Manikya Deb Barma, the titular king of Tripura, has called upon the Centre to slice away the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) from Bangladesh, in response to Muhammad Yunus’ appeal to China to get involved in the affairs of India’s northeastern states.
Yunus – chief adviser to the interim government in Bangladesh – visited China recently and urged Beijing to: “establish an economic foothold in Bangladesh by leveraging its strategic position as the ‘only guardian of the ocean’ for the ‘landlocked’ northeastern region of India”.
Manikya, leader of Tripura’s Tipra Motha party, an ally of the BJP posted on ‘X’: “Rather than spending billions on innovative and challenging engineering ideas, we might as well break up Bangladesh and have our own access to the sea.”
He called India’s decision in 1947 to relinquish control over the Chittagong port a ‘big mistake’ and urged India to reduce its dependence on Bangladesh by supporting indigenous groups that historically ruled Chittagong.
“The Chittagong Hill Tracts were always inhabited by indigenous tribes that always wanted to be part of India since 1947. There are lakhs and lakhs of Tripuri, Garo, Khasi, and Chakma people residing in Bangladesh in terrible conditions in their traditional lands. This should be utilized for our national interest and for their well-being,” he wrote.
The CHT starts just beyond Tripura’s border with Bangladesh and extends till the Chittagong port.
Earlier, Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had also called Yunus’ statements ‘provocative and unacceptable’. “The statement made by Md Yunus of Bangladesh’s so-called interim government referring to the seven sister states of northeastern India as landlocked and positioning Bangladesh as their guardian of ocean access is offensive and strongly condemnable. This remark underscores the persistent vulnerable narrative associated with India’s strategic ‘Chicken’s Neck’ corridor,” Sarma posted on ‘X’.
“Historically, even internal elements within India have dangerously suggested severing this critical passageway to isolate the northeastern states from the mainland physically,” he added.
Congress leader Pawan Khera accused the Narendra Modi government of failing to safeguard the interests of the northeastern states. “Bangladesh is inviting China to encircle India. This attitude of the Bangladesh government is very dangerous for the security of our northeastern region. The government is not taking care of Manipur, and China has already settled villages in Arunachal. Our foreign policy is in such a pathetic state that the country, in whose creation India had a major role, is today engaged in rallying against us,” he posted on ‘X’.
