Elements from Bangladesh provoking unrest around Chicken's Neck: Assam CM Sarma

Guwahati: Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that elements in Bangladesh are provoking people in and around the Chicken Neck invoking their roots from Bangladesh.

Assam has witnessed several streams of migrations from Bangladesh and in Assam the cut off date for citizenship is 1971 and for the rest of the country it is 1951.

Sarma said that those evicted from Umrighat during the recent eviction drive have requested the Election Commission that their name must not be deleted from the voter list of that place though they are residents of elsewhere.


In Dhubri in Western Assam people are getting threatening messages from across the Bangladesh border on their mobile phone. The audio messages were from members of Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI), a Bangladesh-based fundamentalist outfit.

Sarma said, “This is a matter of concern. When I visited Dhubri district recently I saw a wall writing asking people to show allegiance to Bangladesh. That area falls under Chicken Neck and on both sides of the chicken Neck we have people who have originally come from Bangladesh.”

The Chicken's Neck, also known as the Siliguri corridor, is a narrow strip of land in West Bengal's Siliguri that connects India's Northeast with the rest of the country. It is roughly a stretch 20–22 kilometres.

Sarma said, “Our chicken Neck roughly 22 km is very vulnerable, and people settled there are Bangladesh, they might have come prior to 1951 or 1971. Elements in Bangladesh are reminding these people that you are not an Indian citizen, and you are originally from Bangladesh. This is done to provoke pro Bangladesh sentiment among the people along the chicken neck, and it will be a serious security threat in days to come.”

Sarma added, “For Immigrants from Bangladesh loyalty will be divided between the state of origin and place of stay and the person remains in confusion. Elements in Bangladesh are provoking the people along the Chicken Neck that you are originally from Bangladesh and not an Indian and act according to our wish.”

The chief minister argued that there is a game plan and this has been talked about in many articles and many intellectuals have sounded that India will have a problem. “Whatever Bangladeshi is coming to India the only difference is cut off year however loyalty is not determined by cut off year. At the time of war or crisis which way the loyalty goes, suppose till 1960 a particular person was in Bangladesh and came to India thereafter.”

He added, “The elements in Bangladesh may invoke that India is your temporary nation, you are inclined towards us. So, wall writing, phone calls, distribution of literature and sometimes arms training are part of this gameplan. If these persons are brainwashed and constantly talked about their origin, these people though legally are Indian but, in their minds, they may gravitate towards Bangladesh.”

Sarma said that fundamentalist elements in Bangladesh will try to motivate people along the chicken neck in Dhubri or Siliguri that remain as a Bangladeshi. "That is why Ialways say, the people of Northeast India, West Bengal, we are living on a fire, and we do not know what will happen if there is a fight. This is a conspiracy to weaken the Chicken neck of India. We can ignore this till there is no war. Next 20 years in Assam will be a very critical and difficult period.”

Sarma said that during recent eviction in Umrighat around 12,000 to 13,000 people from Silchar, Karimganj, Barpeta , Dhubri and Manipur have illegally settled there. “In the Electoral rolls’ revision this time around 20,000 new people were enrolled there. From Tezpur illegal settlers spread in North Bank of Brahmaputra and similarly they targeted Umrighat from there they would have spread to entire Upper Assam.”

The chief minister added, “In last few days Congress leader Ripun Bora has been calling the Election Commission and asking when Special Intensive Revision (SIR) will start and will the names of these people be deleted from the voter list. EC is yet to announce SIR in Assam however Bora is seeing the ghost of deletion. Those evicted from Umrighat during the recent have sent an application to Assam Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) and to Election Commission in New Delhi that their name must not be deleted from the voter list and they must be allowed to vote there though these people are presently residing in Dhing and Morigaon (Central Assam). Intention is to infiltrate in Upper Assam”.

Sarma said that these applications or moves are piloted by suspicious people from Kerala and Maharashtra who keep on flocking to the state. It is a big network.