The Cartographic Provocation: Decoding Yunus’s Map and the New Geopolitical Anxiety in India’s East 

The recent incident where Bangladesh’s interim leader Muhammad Yunus gifted a controversial map to a Pakistani general, depicting India’s northeastern states as part of Bangladesh, is not an isolated event but a calculated escalation in a pattern of provocations.

This act symbolically endorses the radical “Greater Bangladesh” ideology and aligns with Yunus’s previous remarks to China framing the northeast as “landlocked” and offering Bangladesh as its gateway.

This represents a fundamental shift in Dhaka’s foreign policy from the India-friendly stance of the previous government to a strategic pivot towards a Beijing-Islamabad axis, deliberately targeting India’s core territorial integrity and strategic vulnerabilities in the sensitive northeastern region, thereby significantly raising regional tensions and challenging New Delhi’s diplomatic and strategic calculus.

The Cartographic Provocation: Decoding Yunus’s Map and the New Geopolitical Anxiety in India’s East 

Meta Description: An in-depth analysis of the strategic implications behind Muhammad Yunus’s controversial map gift to a Pakistani general. We explore the shift in Bangladesh’s foreign policy, the specter of “Greater Bangladesh,” and India’s looming regional dilemma. 

Introduction: More Than Just a Picture 

A single photograph, circulating on social media, has sent ripples through South Asian diplomatic circles. It shows Bangladesh’s interim leader, Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, presenting a book titled ‘Art of Triumph’ to Pakistan’s General Sahir Shamshad Mirza. The innocuous-sounding title belies the provocative imagery on its cover: a map of Bangladesh that blatantly incorporates India’s seven northeastern states. 

This was not a casual oversight or an artistic flourish. In the high-stakes theatre of international diplomacy, maps are declarations of intent, and this particular declaration aligns chillingly with the long-dormant, radical idea of a “Greater Bangladesh.” The gift, exchanged during a warming of ties between Dhaka and Islamabad, marks a dangerous new chapter in the region’s politics and poses a direct challenge to India’s strategic calculus. 

The Yunus Doctrine: A Pattern of Strategic Needling 

To view this incident in isolation is to miss the forest for the trees. The controversial map is merely the latest and most visual escalation in a series of calculated remarks from the Yunus administration that deliberately target India’s northeastern region. 

• The China Overture: In April 2025, during a visit to Beijing, Yunus described India’s northeast as a “landlocked country” and positioned Bangladesh as the “only guardian of the ocean” for the region. His explicit invitation for China to “extend its economy” through Bangladesh was a masterstroke of diplomatic provocation. It sought to undermine India’s sovereignty and create an economic dependency that bypasses New Delhi. 

• The Military Threat: In May, a close Yunus aide, retired Major General Fazlur Rahman, suggested a Bangladesh-China collaboration to occupy India’s northeastern states in the event of a conflict with Pakistan. While officially unofficial, such statements from a figure close to power are often trial balloons, testing domestic and international reactions. 

• The “Greater Bangladesh” Vision: Even before the map gift, another Yunus associate, Nahidul Islam, had previously shared a similar cartographic fantasy online, showing parts of West Bengal, Tripura, and Assam as part of Bangladesh. 

This pattern reveals a coherent, if dangerous, strategy. The Yunus administration is systematically leveraging the geographic and demographic vulnerabilities of India’s northeast as a bargaining chip to realign Bangladesh’s foreign policy away from India and towards the China-Pakistan axis. 

The Ghost of “Greater Bangladesh”: Myth or Strategic Tool? 

The concept of “Greater Bangladesh” (or “Bangladesh Irredentism”) is a political theory that proposes the unification of Bangladeshi-speaking regions, potentially including parts of West Bengal, Assam, and Tripura. For decades, it has been a fringe idea, largely propagated by radical Islamist groups and dismissed by mainstream analysts. 

However, under Yunus, this fringe idea is being mainstreamed. By having figures in his circle—and now the interim leader himself through symbolic acts—endorse this cartography, Yunus is accomplishing several objectives: 

• Domestic Posturing: It serves as a powerful nationalist symbol, distancing his government from the historically India-friendly Awami League regime of Sheikh Hasina. 

• Strategic Messaging: It signals a profound ideological shift to Beijing and Islamabad, indicating a willingness to collaborate on projects that contain Indian influence. 

• Psychological Warfare: It directly targets one of India’s most sensitive strategic vulnerabilities—the fragile Siliguri Corridor, or “Chicken’s Neck,” which connects the northeast to the Indian mainland. 

The Geopolitical Chessboard: Why Now? 

The timing and context of this provocation are critical. The fall of Sheikh Hasina’s government in 2024 marked a pivotal moment. Hasina’s tenure was defined by a “India-First” policy, which yielded significant benefits for both nations, including settled maritime and land boundaries, and crucial transit agreements for India to access its northeast. 

Yunus’s ascent has upended this decades-old partnership. His outreach to Pakistan—a nation with whom Bangladesh’s relationship has been frozen since the 1971 Liberation War—is a historic reversal. The meeting with General Mirza isn’t just a courtesy call; it’s a symbolic burial of the ghosts of 1971. 

This new Dhaka-Islamabad-Beijing triangle is designed to counterbalance Indian hegemony. For China, it’s an opportunity to further ensnare Bangladesh in its Belt and Road Initiative and create a strategic arc around India’s eastern flank. For Pakistan, it’s a chance to open a second front of pressure on India without firing a shot. 

India’s Conundrum and Potential Responses 

India’s measured public response—official silence from the Ministry of External Affairs, coupled with EAM Jaishankar’s earlier reaffirmation of the northeast as a connectivity hub—masks deep concern. New Delhi finds itself in a tight spot. 

• The Transit Leverage: India’s cancellation of the transhipment agreement for Bangladeshi goods to Nepal and Bhutan is a clear, immediate economic signal. It demonstrates that Indian cooperation is a two-way street. 

• The Sovereignty Red Line: Any official endorsement of the “Greater Bangladesh” map is an unambiguous red line. India cannot and will not entertain any discussion on the territorial integrity of its states. 

• The Long Game: India’s strategy will likely involve a multi-pronged approach: 

• Strengthening Internal Connectivity: Accelerating projects like the Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Transport Project and improving infrastructure within the Chicken’s Neck to reduce dependency on any single transit route. 

• State-Level Diplomacy: Intensifying engagement with northeastern state governments and fostering cross-border cultural and economic ties that are resilient to political shifts in Dhaka. 

• Strategic Patience: Waiting for the internal political situation in Bangladesh to evolve, while making it clear that the benefits of partnership with India far outweigh the transient gains from provocations. 

Conclusion: A Map is a Battlefield 

Muhammad Yunus’s gift was not an act of art appreciation. It was a deliberate act of cartographic aggression, a move in a larger game to redraw the strategic map of South Asia. It weaponizes a fringe irredentist idea and elevates it to the level of statecraft. 

The real “Art of Triumph” in South Asia will not be found in a book cover, but in the delicate balance of diplomacy, deterrence, and development. As Bangladesh under Yunus pivots towards a new axis, India is faced with its most significant challenge in the eastern neighborhood in over a decade. The response will require not just diplomatic firmness, but a visionary restatement of a partnership that serves the people of both nations, rather than the provocative fantasies of a few. The lines on the map are fixed; the lines of allegiance and strategy in South Asia are being redrawn in real-time.