Guwahati: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has squarely laid the blame for the Northeast’s precarious geographical connectivity at the feet of former Prime Ministers Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi, citing their “strategic failures.” Speaking at the 10th Governing Council meeting of the NITI Aayog in New Delhi, Sarma asserted that despite ample opportunities, both leaders failed to secure a robust and broad corridor for the region, leaving it vulnerable.
The Chief Minister highlighted Assam’s pre-independence prosperity, noting its per capita income surpassed the national average. He reminisced about the state’s strong global ties, with railway lines connecting Dibrugarh to Chittagong by 1904 and the Brahmaputra serving as a vital waterway to ports like Chittagong. “The state was firmly positioned as a hub of international trade,” Sarma stated, lamenting that the 1947 Partition abruptly severed these crucial links, leaving Assam with only the “narrow and vulnerable lifeline” of the Siliguri Chicken Neck.
Sarma specifically pointed to the allocation of the Chittagong Hill Tracts to East Pakistan, despite its over 97 per cent non-Muslim population. He recalled that Chakma leaders had hoisted the Indian flag in Rangamati on August 15, 1947, hoping to join India. “However, the allocation of Chittagong to East Pakistan (Bangladesh) dashed those hopes. Despite their appeals, Pandit Nehru declined to intervene. His tacit acceptance of this decision dealt a significant and lasting blow to the Northeast’s access to global trade,” Sarma alleged.
He further criticised Indira Gandhi, arguing that during the creation of Bangladesh in 1971, she had a “historic opportunity to negotiate a broader and more secure geographical corridor to the Northeast.” Sarma contended, “Despite her decisive leadership in securing Bangladesh’s liberation, this moment too passed without seizing that strategic opportunity.” He concluded that these were “pivotal junctures where bold leadership could have altered the trajectory of Assam and the Northeast,” but instead, the region was “let down by the political leadership of the time.”
However, Sarma expressed optimism for the future, stating that under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “visionary leadership,” Assam and other northeastern states are no longer “considered the prisoners of history.” He affirmed that Assam is “reclaiming its rightful role as a gateway to Southeast Asia,” through the revival of inland waterways, restoration of connectivity, and building infrastructure to reposition the state as a “dynamic economic frontier of ‘Viksit Bharat’.”
To truly unleash the region’s potential, Sarma advocated for “dedicated transport and logistics corridors, revival of inland waterways and critical railway infrastructure, freight subsidies and long-haul incentives for industries, affordable and reliable power with appropriate cost equalisation mechanisms.” He stressed that Assam and the Northeast are not “peripheral” but rather “strategic, economic, and cultural frontiers,” serving as “gateways to Southeast Asia, rich in human capital and opportunity.”
Sarma called for correcting “the failures of past political vision with bold policy clarity today,” urging for “institutional responsiveness” to match the Prime Minister’s commitment and replace “inertia with action.” His remarks gain further context in light of recent comments by Muhammad Yunus, head of Bangladesh’s interim government, who during a March visit to China, referred to the Northeast as a “landlocked region” for which Bangladesh was the “only guardian of the ocean,” suggesting it could be an “extension of the Chinese economy.” These comments had sparked outrage in the Northeast. Countering this, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar had earlier highlighted India’s extensive coastline in the Bay of Bengal and the Northeast’s emergence as a “connectivity hub for the BIMSTEC, with a myriad network of roads, railways, waterways, grids and pipelines.”
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