India's External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Thursday (April 3) took a sharp jibe at Bangladesh's Chief Advisor Muhammad Yunus for calling India's Northeastern states "landlocked", saying that "we have the longest coastline in the Bay of Bengal". 

Advertisment

Jaishankar said that India believes that cooperation is an integrated outlook, not one subject to cherry-picking. 

He further said that India is aware of its responsibility with regard to the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC).

Also read: PM Modi-Yunus BIMSTEC meeting in limbo: How India-Bangladesh relations progressed after Hasina's fall

Advertisment

"We, after all, have the longest coastline in the Bay of Bengal, of almost 6,500 km. India shares borders not only with the five BIMSTEC members, and connects most of them, but also provides much of the interface between the Indian sub-continent and ASEAN. Our North-Eastern region in particular is emerging as a connectivity hub for the BIMSTEC, with a myriad network of roads, railways, waterways, grids and pipelines," Jaishankar said. 

He added that India is aware that our cooperation and facilitation are an essential prerequisite for the smooth flow of goods, services and people in this larger geography. 

"Keeping this geo-strategic factor in mind, we have devoted increasing energies and attention to the strengthening of BIMSTEC in the last decade. We also believe that cooperation is an integrated outlook, not one subject to cherry-picking," Jaishankar said.

Advertisment

Also read: ‘Better to split up Bangladesh than…’: Northeast leader’s response to Yunus remark

What did Yunus say? 

This comes after Bangladesh's Yunus, during his visit to China, said that India's northeast was "landlocked" and had "no way to reach out to the ocean", presenting Bangladesh as the primary gateway for the region's maritime access.

Yunus also requested China to expand its economic influence in Bangladesh and called the country the "only guardian of the ocean" in the region. 

Also read: PM Modi writes to Yunus, stresses 'mutual sensitivity' in strengthening India-Bangladesh ties

However, Yunus remarks gained criticism from across the nation, particularly in the Northeast. Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma denounced the remarks as "offensive and unacceptable".

He further said that Yunus's remarks reignited debates over the strategic "Chicken's Neck" corridor, the narrow land strip in West Bengal linking the Northeast to the rest of India.

Also read: 'Seven Indian states are landlocked': Yunus invites China to expand, calls Bangladesh 'only guardian of ocean'

(With inputs from agencies)