Guwahati: Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Wednesday issued a blunt warning to Bangladesh, saying it should stay away from the Siliguri corridor — the narrow stretch of land linking northeast India to the rest of the country — and not harbour any illusions about taking control of the strategically vital region.

“No country should be under the impression that it can take over the Chicken's Neck. The world has seen India's military prowess during Operation Sindoor,” Sarma said, responding to recent reports about a Dhaka-based Turkish Islamist group, ‘Saltanat-e-Bangla’, circulating maps of a so-called ‘Greater Bangladesh’ that included parts of eastern and northeastern India.

He also referred to comments made in March by Bangladeshi Islamic scholar Md Yunus, who during a visit to China, called the seven northeastern states a landlocked region and suggested Bangladesh could be a gateway for Chinese economic expansion.

Taking a combative tone, Sarma warned, “They (Bangladesh) have two Chicken Necks, India has one. If they attack ours, we will attack their two Chicken Necks.”

While he did not name them specifically, one is understood to be the narrow land link between Bangladesh’s mainland and the Chittagong Port, and the other likely refers to the stretch south of Rangpur division that connects it to the rest of Bangladesh via a corridor near India’s Meghalaya and West Bengal borders.

The Siliguri corridor, popularly referred to as the Chicken’s Neck, is a vulnerable strip of land around 22 km wide that holds immense strategic importance for India, serving as the only land route connecting the northeastern states with the rest of the country.

Sarma clarified that references to the corridor are often made to push for more infrastructural support from the Centre.

“We talk about our ‘Chicken's Neck’ so that we can get tunnels and other schemes from the central government,” he said.

He also mocked the idea of Bangladesh posing a threat to India. “Bangladesh doesn’t deserve so much attention. It is a small country and cannot be compared with India,” he said, adding that India’s strength was demonstrated during Operation Sindoor, in which it had targeted terror infrastructure in Pakistan and PoK.

On the ‘Greater Bangladesh’ map being floated by fringe groups, Sarma said: “People can draw and publish such a map. We can also come out with a map showing Bangladesh as part of Assam. Even India and the US can be put together on a map. Just drawing up a map won’t make it happen.”

Reacting to claims that some maulanas (Islamic clerics) in Bangladesh were involved in circulating such maps, he quipped: “If their maulanas can draw maps including Assam, our purohits (Hindu priests) can draw maps that include their Chittagong Port in India.”