Mohammad Yunus, Bangladesh’s Chief Adviser to the interim government recently visited China. In his fervour to woo China to invest in Bangladesh he threw a bait by including the seven states of North East India as an attractive investment destination. Yunus’s statement, “Seven States of India—the Eastern part of India, known as the Seven Sisters—are landlocked. They have no way to reach out to the ocean. We are the only guardians of the sea. This opens up a huge possibility (that) this could be an extension of the Chinese economy,” has created a flutter in India.
Yunus has correctly studied the economic prospects of India’s North East which has much to export by way of mineral products such as coal, limestone and horticultural products. An important part of the Act East Policy was to ensure that the North Eastern states bordering Bangladesh such as Meghalaya, Assam and Tripura would be better able to transport their products by looking south towards Bangladesh’s Chittagong port. But that was when Bangladesh was a friendly country with Sheikh Hasina at the helm. Now with the anti-India stance that Yunus has adopted by insisting that the only way forward for Bangladesh mending ties with India is to extradite Sheikh Hasina so that she can be put to trial – a prospect that India is not agreeable to, the two countries have turned into hostile neighbours, more so since Bangladesh is fanning the flames of religious extremism.
Mohammad Yunus’s reference to the North Eastern states demands a measured response from India’s foreign policy and defence establishment as it has the propensity to create unrest in a region that has seen relative peace in the last ten years or so. That has happened after militant outfits harboured in Bangladesh by the Khaleda Zia regime were flushed out, courtesy the friendly relations between India and Bangladesh after Sheikh Hasina took over the reins in Bangladesh. China’s role in fuelling such statements cannot be ruled out since that country has been looking for a strategic foothold in India’s North East particularly Arunachal Pradesh and claiming it as part of South Tibet.
This statement however, holds true of the North Eastern states which are joined to the rest of India by a narrow 22 km corridor. This demands that Delhi takes a more nuanced view of Yunus’ statement and negotiates its way towards using Bangladesh as a crucial trade corridor, with connectivity through India’s Northeast offering expanded commercial opportunities. However, the chauvinism embedded in Yunus’ statement makes it a diplomatic bombshell. What cannot be overlooked is the sheer arrogance embedded in the claim of being the “guardian of the sea.”
If Mohammad Yunus thinks that Bangladesh can piggyback on China without that country extracting its pound of flesh he is sleepwalking. China is unlikely to invest heavily in Bangladesh if it cannot establish itself as a geo-strategic power over the Indo-Pacific region. Meanwhile Bangladesh continues its journey without an elected government, which is a troubling prospect for the country.