Chicken Neck
and the talk of a Union Territory in the North
Nidhu Bhusan Das
Partition of Bengal and creation of a
Union territory in the region from Malda to Cooch-Behar is an emotive issue
being talked about emotionally. Bengalis are known for being emotional and can
easily be swayed emotionally when it comes to electoral politics. Statecraft is
not emotion propelled but dominated by logic. If such a Union Territory is found
to be necessary for the security and integrity of Indian Union, no amount of
emotion and political rhetoric would be sufficient to prevent its creation. Now,
is there any logic in point of security and integrity of India in carving a
Union Territory in the north from West Bengal? A Union Territory (UT)
is a federal territory, administered by the union government. In UTs, the
central government appoints the Lieutenant Governor, who is the administrator
and the representative of the President of India.
Say you have a beautiful chicken that
lays an egg every day. You are aware that several times your neighbour has
tried to catch hold of the chicken by its neck for his lone chanticleer (rooster)
with which she stealthily mates. To protect your bird you may consider
different options including keeping its neck out of the reach of your covetous
neighbour.
India has a narrow stretch of land
strategically located in the northern part of West Bengal. This strip of land, about 60 km long and 20 km wide, known as India’s Chicken Neck
or Siliguri Corridor, connects her eight northeastern states with the rest of
the country. So this corridor, the Achilles’ heel in our defence of
almost 2000 kilometres of borders with China and Myanmar, is strategically
important and highly sensitive.
An armed peasant revolt broke out in 1967 in Naxalbari within
the corridor. Sutirtho Patranobis reported in
Hindustan Times from Beijing that on December 13, 1967 a meeting took place in
Beijing between Communist Party of China’s Chairman Mao Zedong and a group of
Naxal leaders, led by Kanu Sanyal. In the 80-minute meeting Chairman Mao
encouraged the Naxal leaders to strive for a “People’s Revolution” in India. This
little-known piece of history was shared with Hindustan Times by Shanghai-based
historian Li Danhui who accessed archives to find out what happened during the
meeting. Why the uprising took place in the Siliguri Corridor is intriguing. It
is also a matter of immense curiosity why the founder of modern China, the
all-powerful Mao Zedong met the Naxal leaders and made several suggestions to
them regarding what should be their revolutionary tactics.
This
corridor is wedged between Bangladesh to the south and the west and China to
the north. Nepal in the east and Bhutan in the west flank the corridor. The Chinese
military (PLA) has to advance just 130 kms to cut off Bhutan, West Bengal and
the north-eastern states of India. It is
only a gateway to the northeastern states of India but also to South-East Asia.
That this strategic location of the Chicken
Neck has always been in the mind and thought of Beijing is clear from the Chinese
maneuvre in Doklam in 2017. Despite an Agreement in 2003 between India and China, Beijing’s
attempts to seize de facto control over the Indo-Bhutan-Chinese region
continued. It culminated in the Doklam standoff between India and China during
June-August 2017.
Doklam is located on the tri-junction of
Sino-Indian-Bhutan border on the Himalayan Range. It is a disputed territory
between China and Bhutan but of great strategic importance for India. It lies
between Chumbi Valley, Tibet Autonomous Region of China in the north, our
Sikkim State to the west and Bhutan’s Haa valley and Samtse District to the
east and south respectively. The approximate
distance between Doklam and Siliguri Corridor is only 80 kms.
With China
continuing road and airstrip construction activities on its side of the border,
the threat to the Chicken Neck is a constant one, as the infrastructure could
allow China to mobilise rapidly in the region, say defence analysts. What India needs to worry about is
saving its Chicken Neck from China. China claims 90,000 square kilometres of
territory in the north-east. This menacing stance of the dreaming neighbour has
been a constant threat to the Siliguri Corridor.
Strategically, the Siliguri Corridor is
precisely the point where China could hit in case of an escalating conflict. In
case of such an eventuality, China could change the entire status quo
along the LAC and put India under tremendous pressure.
Now as part of defence preparedness vis-à-vis
Beijing’s expansionist stance, New Delhi cannot but focus on the protection of
the corridor. Defence analysts are of the view that widening and strengthening this corridor is imperative. The first
option for India is to enter into a treaty with Bangladesh permitting not only
transit of military equipment during times of conflict but also civilian
traffic and trade activities. This would add a layer of strategic depth in the
region and alleviate (in some measure) concerns of the possible severance of
the north-east from the mainland.
The treaty can cover multi-modal
transport including road and rail and a smooth movement of freight and
personnel. With the revival of Bimstec India’s relations with Bangladesh have
seen a fillip, with seven pacts on important mutual issues signed between Dhaka
and New Delhi. India and Bangladesh have already mooted a proposal to
facilitate transit with India’s landlocked north-east and PMs of both countries
have issued joint statements in this regard in 2010 and 2016.
Currently, there is a joint working
group which is examining the possibility of connecting Mahendraganj in
Meghalaya to Hili in Bengal through Goraghat, Palashbari and Gaibandha in
Bangladesh. This distance of about 100 km could easily be developed into an
elevated road and rail corridor through Bangladesh.
Other infrastructure development
measures are likely to be in place. Military infrastructure will be developed exponentially
and along with it economic and social infrastructures may be overhauled.
Overall, the region will see such a flurry of development that the stigma of
backwardness will wither away. All such things in such a strategic location can,perhaps,
best be made possible under a central administration.
