‘India Has Longest Coastline In Bay Of Bengal’: Jaishankar’s ‘Cherry-Picking’ Jab At Bangladesh’s Yunus

India is aware of its responsibility with regard to the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC), External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said, adding that the country also has the longest coastline in the Bay of Bengal.

The Minister also highlighted that India believes that cooperation is an integrated outlook, not one subject to cherry-picking.

His remarks came in reference to Bangladesh Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus’s recent remarks on the Northeast, which courted controversy. Yunus recently also urged the Chinese government to establish an economic base within his country and insisted that Bangladesh was the “only guardian of the ocean” for the region.

Addressing the 6th BIMSTEC Summit in Thailand, Jaishankar said, “The nations around and proximate to the Bay of Bengal have both common interests and shared concerns. Some of it emanates from our history, where other priorities overrode the well-being of this region.”

“India is aware of its special responsibility in regard to BIMSTEC. We, after all, have the longest coastline in the Bay of Bengal, of almost 6,500 km,” the EAM said.

“India shares borders not only with five BIMSTEC members, connects most of them, but also provides much of the interface between the Indian Sub-continent and ASEAN,” he said.

“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. Furthermore, the completion of the Trilateral Highway will connect India’s North East all the way to the Pacific Ocean, a veritable game-changer,” EAM Jaishankar said.

“We are conscious that our cooperation and facilitation are an essential pre-requisite for the smooth flow of goods, services and people in this larger geography. Keeping this geo-strategic factor in mind, we have devoted increasing energies and attention to the strengthening of BIMSTEC in the last decade.”

“We also believe that cooperation is an integrated outlook, not one subject to cherry-picking,” he added.

The BIMSTEC summit will bring Prime Minister Narendra Modi face-to-face with Nepal Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, Bangladesh’s Yunus, and Myanmar military junta leader Min Aung Hlaing, among others, according to news agency PTI.

YUNUS’S REMARK AND THE CONTROVERSY
Since the interim government headed by Yunus stepped in following the ouster of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in August 2024, the ties between the two countries have seen a slump amid India’s concerns over the violence targeting Hindus and a rise of hardline Islamist forces there.

During his visit to China last week, Yunus urged Beijing to extend its economic influence to Bangladesh, controversially mentioning that India’s northeastern states being landlocked could prove to be an opportunity.

Yunus, who met Chinese President Xi Jinping and signed nine agreements with Beijing during the trip, said, “The seven states of India, the eastern part of India, are called the seven sisters. They are a landlocked region of India. They have no way to reach out to the ocean.”

Calling Bangladesh the “only guardian of the ocean” in the region, he said this could be a huge opportunity and could be an extension of the Chinese economy.

The remark surfaced on social media on March 31, and drew sharp reactions from political leaders across party lines in India, who dubbed his remarks as “shameful” and “provocative”.