Outgoing Bangladesh interim government chief Muhammad Yunus triggered a controversy in his Feb 16 farewell speech after referencing India’s northeastern “Seven Sisters” alongside Nepal and Bhutan, a formulation that critics say blurs political boundaries by grouping Indian states with sovereign countries. Yunus said the “open sea” can be a platform for regional economic growth and spoke of trade and free trade turning the region into a development hub, according to remarks cited in reports. The comments revived scrutiny of Yunus’s earlier April 2025 remarks in China that described Bangladesh as the “guardian of the ocean” for India’s landlocked northeast, amid a wider backdrop of Dhaka-Delhi ties and political transition in Bangladesh.
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