Coimbatore: Sadhguru, founder of the Isha Foundation, has described the Siliguri Corridor as a “78-year-old anomaly” created by India’s Partition, saying it should have been corrected decades ago and that the time has now come to “nourish the chicken” and “allow it to evolve into an elephant”.
He made the remarks while responding to an audience question on comments made by Bangladesh’s interim government regarding the Siliguri Corridor, also known as the ‘Chicken’s Neck’, during a satsang at Sadhguru Sannidhi in Bengaluru on Sunday.
Sharing a video of the interaction on X, Sadhguru said, “Siliguri Corridor is a 78-year-old anomaly created by Bharat’s Partition, which should have been corrected in 1971. Now that there is an open threat to the nation’s sovereignty, it is time to nourish the chicken and allow it to evolve into an elephant.”
During the interaction, Sadhguru pointed to what he called missed opportunities in the aftermath of the 1971 Liberation War, stating that the issue should have been addressed at a time when India had the authority to do so.
“Maybe in 1946-47 we didn’t have the authority to do that, but in ‘1972 we had the authority, we did not do that. Now, this Chicken’s Neck, that people have started talking about, it’s time we nourish this chicken… so that it evolves quickly into an elephant,” he said.
Calling for firm steps to strengthen India’s territorial integrity, Sadhguru stressed that fragility cannot be the basis on which a nation is sustained.
“So nations cannot be made just by being chicken. It has to grow into an elephant. Maybe it needs nourishment. Maybe it needs some steroids. Whatever is needed, we must do… anything that we try to do has costs, has a price to pay always,” he said.
Placing the issue in a wider global and civilisational perspective, Sadhguru observed that while a world without borders may be an ideal aspiration, it cannot be forced prematurely in the present circumstances.
“It would have been wonderful if there were no nations in the world, no borders in the world… but we are still in that level of existence. Suddenly, we cannot imagine tomorrow we’re going to embrace everybody and live wonderfully. That is a foolhardy thinking right now,” he said.
Referring again to the Siliguri Corridor, Sadhguru concluded, “Anyway, this anomaly happened only 78 years ago. Some correction is needed. Correction must happen. I think we need to feed the chicken well and make it into an elephant. An elephant’s neck would be easy to handle.”
Sadhguru has, on several occasions in the past, spoken publicly about developments in Bangladesh, particularly voicing concern over repeated incidents of violence against Hindu minorities and the destruction of temples.
He has also questioned what he sees as prolonged silence over attacks on Hindus, damage to places of worship and demographic pressures forcing minorities to flee, arguing that such issues cannot be dismissed as internal matters when they arise from unresolved civilisational and geopolitical fault lines created during Partition.
(IANS)
