'Yunus not a matured politician': Kiren Rijiju on Bangladesh chief advisor's remark on northeast

Union Minority Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju

Union Minority Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said Bangladesh chief advisor Muhammad Yunus is "not a matured politician but a matured man".

In an interview with ANI, the minister said, "The geopolitical situation is very sensitive. A country  can be in different parts like Andaman. It is not connected by land but it is part of India. The northeast may be cinnected by 22 km corridor but it is part of India. Territorial integrity is not necessarily to be contigous to eacha other physically."

He also said PM Modi's Act East policy as the hub of India's economic activities.  "I always say Asean begins from northeast India," he said. "Yunus had stated that Bangladesh if the gateway to Bay of Bengal. That is a limited way of putting things. I feel sad that the leader of a neighbouring country looks at another country in such a way."

During his recent visit to China, Yunus said Bangladesh was the “only guardian” of the Bay of Bengal and suggested that Beijing could use Bangladesh to extend its economic influence to India’s “landlocked” northeastern region.

“Seven states of India, eastern part of India, called seven sisters… they are landlocked country, landlocked region of India. They have no way to reach out to the ocean. We are the only guardian of the ocean for all this region. So this opens up a huge possibility. So this could be an extension of the Chinese economy. Build things, produce things, market things, bring things to China, bring it out to the whole rest of the world,” Yunus said.

After his comment, India rescinded a critical transshipment facility granted to Bangladesh that allowed Bangladeshi export cargo to move to third countries via Indian Land Customs Stations (LCSs), ports, and airports.

External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar also slammed Yunus and said New Delhi believes that cooperation is an integrated outlook, not one subject to cherry-picking.

In an official statement, Jaishankar also said that India is aware of its responsibility with regard to the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC).

"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," he said.