The Indian army’s strategic 33 Corps organised an important seminar in Bengdubi on 13 April 2024.
Internationally renowned conflict theorist and best selling author, Jaideep Saikia delivered the Keynote Address and was the first speaker in the seminar.
The other speakers included Lt Gen Shokin Chauhan, Lt Gen Raj Shukla, Lt Gen Rakesh Sharma and Jayadev Ranade among other luminaries.
Excerpts of Jaideep Saikia’s Keynote Address is being reproduced below.
“Geography has compelled Bhutan to gravitate towards the South and lean on India for not only its security, but most of its commercial activities. But recent times have seen Beijing reaching out to the Himalayan kingdom in order to anvil diplomatic ties. The “Three-Step Roadmap” which was signed between Bhutan and China was an eyesore for India. It was as if Bhutan had betrayed its friend and ally, India.
However, it is my considered opinion, especially after having met and conferred with His Majesty King 4 of Bhutan, the then prime minister of Bhutan and Bhutan’s chief operations officer in 2013 that the Himalayan kingdom’s heart is in its right place.
Therefore, I am of the opinion that Thimphu would have certainly consulted New Delhi before it entered into negotiations with China and the “Three-Step Roadmap”.
Let me put forward a couple of thesis that I have been writing about for quite some time.
(1) I have already told you that Thimphu would have consulted India before doing business with Beijing. In fact, I think India would have actually encouraged Bhutan to speed up boundary negotiations with China. It is vital to India’s national security interest. An iron-clad boundary between Bhutan and China would have ensured that there is a veritable strategic buffer between China and India by way of Bhutan, and China’s borders with India would, as a result, not be a contiguous one. This is important for India’s security.
(2) Doklam was a matter of concern when it took place. The PLA occupied the plateau and developed large military infrastructure right up to the base of the Jampheri Ridge which overlooks the Siliguri Corridor. I am referring to the PLA outpost in Barbad Gaon which is about 600 metres from the nearest Indian post. He has even constructed one Xiaokang village, Pangda in the area. And, there was apprehension that the Chinese would cross the Torsa Nullah and intrude into Indian Territory.
(3) But I am of the opinion that in this age of Information Warfare, one does not quite need physical domination of a height in order to conduct surveillance. Satellites can be launched from PLA bases in Tibet Autonomous Region and even from Chengdu, the HQs of the Western Theatre Command. Chinese satellites have a revisit time of four hours and these are far advanced than our satellites. These can monitor Indian army movement in the Siliguri Corridor and thereabouts with greater clarity. Therefore, it is important to fathom the real reason for the Chinese wanting to widen the Chumbi Valley and seek a foothold in the Doklam Plateau.
(4) During the Doklam crisis I had told the powers that be in New that it is time for India to look for alternative routes to and from the North East via Bangladesh to the rest of India. This would call the Chinese bluff a la the Siliguri Corridor.
(5) Indeed, some years ago, Lt Gen. Arun Kumar Sahni, former Army Commander of the Indian army’s South Western Command and I wrote an article titled “Make New Roads to the East” in The Indian Express. Although the primary thrust of the article was about the impasse in Myanmar and the roadblock that the Act East policy is encountering as a result of the civil strife in Myanmar, robust axes to and from the North East via Bangladesh would have considerably lessened the Chinese threat to the Siliguri Corridor.
(6) I want to make one more point, one which is not necessarily directly related to this seminar. Recently China renamed some places in Arunachal Pradesh. Now, why did they do it? Did it make their claim over the 90,000 Sq Km of what they term as Southern Tibet any stronger? Certainly not! And, they know that we are not going to part with an inch of our land. Therefore, all that he is doing is to keep us on our toes and deployed on the borders – he is not deployed as we are, and he is taking recourse to “Grey Zone Warfare” and trying to run down our flagging economy by keeping us so deployed.
It is, therefore, very encouraging that prime minister Narendra Modi has recently reached out to China and spoken about the need to resolve the boundary issue. It is also fondly hoped that Modi 3.0 post June 2024 would lay greater stress on what I have spoken and written about resolution of the India-China boundary issue in a strategic but important sub-sector in the Eastern Sector. I have proposed that the Line of Actual Control in a sub-sector in the Kameng Sector be renamed as the “Line of Amity”.
Another important aspect pertains to radicalisation.
A study was conducted which found (a) that there is a huge radicalised population among the minorities of Nepal’s Terai including areas in Jhapa and Ilam which are rather close to the Siliguri Corridor.
It is being said that it is a matter of time before these radicalised groups physically invade this region. The loyalties of these radicalised elements are being informed by anti-India forces.
A radical group, Islamic Sangh Nepal (ISN) as emerged as the premier Nepali Muslim Outfit and is completely under the control of the ISI of Pakistan and the ISIS. They are planning concerted anti-India subterfuge by utilising the ISN.
These will turn the region to become the epicentre of this radical strain.
If some of you had written off ISIS, please recall what happened in Moscow not so long ago.
It is, therefore, important that we must have our objectives clear.
In want you to recall what our Honourable Prime Minister had said during the course of his address to the nation on 15 August 2014 from the ramparts of the Red Fort. He said it in Hindi. It somehow stayed with me. I was watching him on Television.
He said “Jab Kadam Milegi, Tab Tan Aur Man Milega. Tab Maksad Bhi Milega”
It is that objective that will fortify our frontiers and protect us from our enemies, foreign and domestic. It is that objective that will secure Siliguri region and our country. It is that objective that will usher in Freedom from Fear.
Jaideep Saikia was also decorated with a “Scroll of Honour” by Lt Gen VPS Kaushik, General Officer Commanding, 33 Corps during the course of the seminar.
Saikia was earlier awarded the Commendation Cards of the Indian army’s Eastern Army (2022) and the Director General, Assam Rifles (2024).
