Ahead of the new government formation in Bangladesh, outgoing interim adviser Muhammad Yunus once again raked up his rhetoric of the ‘Seven Sisters’ – as India’s northeastern states are known – pointedly omitting the neighbouring country’s name.
In a final address to the nation before handing over power to a newly elected government headed by the BNP’s Tarique Rahman, Muhammad Yunus sparked significant concerns by invoking India’s ‘Seven Sisters’ alongside Nepal and Bhutan as a singular region combined with Bangladesh.
Yunus proposed a sub-regional economic framework that seeks to link Bangladesh’s maritime access with Nepal, Bhutan, and the ‘Seven Sisters’.
“Our open sea is not only a geographical boundary, it is an open door to engage with the world economy for Bangladesh. This region along with Nepal, Bhutan and Seven Sisters has great economic potential," Yunus said during his address.
His deliberate decision to refer to the Indian states as the “Seven Sisters" while excluding a direct mention of India is being viewed as a calculated attempt to redefine the region’s political and economic identity. According to top intelligence sources, this omission is “nothing but deliberate strategic messaging" intended to reshape the global perception of India’s northeast.
The intelligence sources told News18 that by framing the Northeast as a distinct entity within a sub-regional narrative, the rhetoric is interpreted as a signal to global powers – China, western donors, and international agencies – that the territory is “economically negotiable terrain". This move deliberately challenges India’s territorial sovereignty in favour of a maritime-focused trade narrative, they said.
The sources said the timing and content of the speech are also believed to have a strong domestic component. Such rhetoric appeals to Bangladeshi nationalists and “post-Hasina constituencies", establishing a firm stance on regional autonomy, they said.
They said this is not the first time Yunus has employed such narratives, having reportedly done so multiple times in the past. His speech highlights a significant shift in regional diplomacy, one that positions Bangladesh as the central gateway for a new economic collective. By bypassing traditional geopolitical acknowledgments, his proposition suggests a future where Bangladesh serves as the primary link between landlocked neighbours and the global economy, potentially at the expense of established regional hierarchies, they added.
Source: News18