Guwahati: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma stated that with all five states sharing the border with Bangladesh now aligned with the Centre following the electoral victory in West Bengal, Union Home Minister Amit Shah can initiate a cohesive effort to protect eastern and northeastern India, including the sensitive Siliguri 'chicken's neck' corridor.
“I believe the Prime Minister and the Home Minister will use this victory in West Bengal as the foundation to secure the nation and take major steps. By winning Bengal, the northeast is now secured, and I thank both for leading the election in Bengal and winning it. Their efforts were not for defeating Mamata Banerjee but to secure the nation,” Sarma told reporters in Assam.
He also criticized outgoing Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for refusing to resign, stating that if she does not, the Governor will dismiss her. Earlier in the day, Banerjee claimed she was cheated out of 100 seats by the BJP and said she would not go to Raj Bhavan to resign.
“The Governor will wait for some time, and then he will dismiss her. The election results are there. If I say that Congress has won 19 seats (in Assam) by vote chori, and I want these seats, will it work? It does not work this way. West Bengal people have given you (Mamata Banerjee) a lot,” Sarma told NDTV news channel.
Explaining why solving border issues should not be a problem, Sarma noted that from Bengal to Mizoram, it is either BJP-ruled or friendly parties at the helm. While Meghalaya has an NDA government led by Conrad Sangma’s NPP, Mizoram’s ZPM government is known to extend issue-based support to the NDA central government. The rest—Assam, Tripura, and now West Bengal—have BJP-led NDA governments.
“If I send someone from Assam to Bangladesh, they have scope to re-enter the country through West Bengal. If the Home Minister initiates an integrated effort with these five CMs, which I believe is also in his mind, and under his leadership if all the five CMs work, then from Chicken’s Neck to eastern and northeast, India will be secured,” Sarma told reporters.
Assam shares the least length of the border with Bangladesh, while West Bengal shares the most. Sarma said that for a long time, student and youth organizations in Assam have demanded sealing the Indo-Bangladesh border, but “from the beginning we have been saying that there is no point if the border remains open in other states.”
“The India-Bangladesh border remained unsecured in West Bengal, and from demography to security, it was a big challenge. Mamata Banerjee in the last 10 years did not give land to the BSF for fencing the border. The BJP has assured that the first step of its government will be to provide the BSF with the land needed for fencing, and the open gates for Bangladeshi infiltration in Assam and Bengal will be closed,” he said, adding that because of this, “it was necessary for the BJP to come to Bengal.”
The total length of the India-Bangladesh border is 4096.70 km, of which the length of the border with West Bengal is 2216.7 km, Assam 263 km, Meghalaya 443 km, Tripura 856 km, and Mizoram 318 km. Minister of State in the Ministry of Home Affairs, Nityanand Rai, in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha last year, stated that 1647.696 km of the border in West Bengal has been covered by fence, and out of the remaining 569.004 km yet to be fenced, 456.224 km is feasible.
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