Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Adviser of the interim government of Bangladesh Muhammad Yunus meeting on the sidelines of the BIMSTEC Summit in Bangkok on Friday, amidst tensions over Yunus’s unwarranted reference to India’s Northeast in his economic pitch to China, speaks volumes about India’s strategic priorities. Prime Minister Modi urging during the meeting that “rhetoric that vitiates the environment is best avoided” is a veiled word of caution to Bangladesh against the consequences of dragging India’s Northeast region into neighbourhood geopolitics. Prime Minister Modi agreeing to meet the Chief Executive of Bangladesh’s interim government, Muhammad Yunus, despite the provocation by the latter, signalled India’s cautious approach to prevent a strategic shift in the neighbouring country. Allowing a strategic China-Bangladesh alignment to grow at the behest of a radical Islamist-backed regime in the neighbouring country is not in India’s strategic interest. Prime Minister Modi reiterated India’s support for a democratic, stable, peaceful, progressive and inclusive Bangladesh, according to an official release issued by the Ministry of External Affairs. “Enunciating India’s people-centric approach to the relationship, Prime Minister highlighted that cooperation between the two countries has brought tangible benefits to the people of both countries. He underlined India’s desire to forge a positive and constructive relationship with Bangladesh based on pragmatism,” the release adds. The message was a reminder to the interim regime in Bangladesh not to overlook the huge economic benefits brought by deepening bilateral engagement between the two countries under India’s Neighbourhood First policy. The prime minister underlined India’s concerns related to the safety and security of minorities in Bangladesh, including Hindus, and expressed his expectation that the government of Bangladesh would ensure their security, including by thoroughly investigating the cases of atrocities committed against them. This was the first meeting between the two leaders since the regime change in Bangladesh following the ouster of the Sheikh Hasina-led regime in August last year. Muhammad Yunus’s reference to the Northeast region as “landlocked” and his claim of Bangladesh to be the “only guardian of the ocean during his economic pitch to China and urging it to look at the potential of Bangladesh becoming an extension of the Chinese economy” not only marked a departure from Bangladesh seeking to carefully balance India and China during the previous Sheikh Hasina regime but also signalled the neighbouring country seeking to tilt the strategic balance towards China. Prime Minister Modi’s assertion, ahead of his visit to Thailand, that “with its geographical location, India’s North Eastern region lies at the heart of BIMSTEC” is a strong rejection of such diplomatic misadventures by the Yunus-led regime in Bangladesh. External Affairs Minister (EAM) S. Jaishankar’s remarks at the BIMSTEC meeting also gave a befitting reply to Muhammad Yunus’s provocative statement regarding Northeast and Bangladesh’s claim on ocean access. He said that India has the longest coastline in the Bay of Bengal, of almost 6500 km. India shares borders not only with five BIMSTEC members and connects most of them, but also provides much of the interface between the Indian subcontinent and ASEAN. The EAM insisted that the North-Eastern region in particular is emerging as a connectivity hub for BIMSTEC, with a myriad network of roads, railways, waterways, grids and pipelines. Furthermore, the completion of the Trilateral Highway will connect India’s North East all the way to the Pacific Ocean, a veritable game-changer, he added. While India’s official response to Bangladesh’s provocation in Northeast is a timely caution to the neighbouring country to refrain from such misadventure without directly referring to it, the strong protest raised by leaders in Northeast against the statement made by the chief adviser of the interim government of Bangladesh in China resonated with the concern among the people over the vulnerability of the region’s strategic connectivity with the rest of India through the narrow Chicken Neck corridor. Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma pressed the alarm bell, insisting that “such provocative statements” must not be taken lightly, as they “reflect deeper strategic considerations and longstanding agendas”. The Chief Minister asserted that the remark underscores the persistent vulnerability narrative associated with India’s strategic “Chicken’s Neck” corridor, and historically, even internal elements within India have dangerously suggested severing this critical passageway to isolate the Northeast from the mainland physically. Chief Minister Sarma’s call to prioritise developing more robust railway and road networks both underneath and around the Chicken’s Neck corridor and exploring alternative road routes connecting the Northeast to mainland India, effectively bypassing the Chicken’s Neck corridor, is an urgent need of the hour and must be pursued along with a diplomatic response. Demographic change in Assam and other states caused by large-scale illegal migration from Bangladesh, which resulted from the failure of successive governments to seal the India-Bangladesh border and the failure to expel lakhs of illegal Bangladeshi infiltrators even after nearly four decades of the signing of the Assam Accord, also calls for strengthening internal security in the Northeast region.