Kalyani Shankar
Four decades after it was inked, it’s high time New Delhi does its bit to operationalise the India-Bangladesh land border agreement
It is a sad commentary on the state of India-Bangladesh relations that even after more than four decades, there has been no mutually acceptable resolution to the land boundary issue. The anti-India elements in Bangladesh are using it to their advantage.
This problem is a negative legacy from the colonial era. The enclaves in India and Bangladesh were the result of a series of chess games between the Maharaja of Cooch Behar and the Faujdar of Rangpur, who used these villages as a wager. That was before the British Raj. Since independence, these enclaves have been left out due to a cartographic anomaly by India and Bangladesh. Not much changed after Bangladesh’s independence in 1971.
The Indira-Mujib Land Boundary Agreement in 1974 was meant to change all that. The two countries resolved to exchange enclaves, and India agreed to forgo compensation for the additional area going to Bangladesh. Dhaka ratified the treaty immediately but India is yet to do so.
A pragmatic approach is needed to settle this matter and end the misery of the people involved, who live in a state of uncertainty without human rights, civic amenities and citizenship rights. The residents have no access to basic services such as electricity, hospitals and schools. The most viable solution to the enclaves issue is the swapping of the territories.
It is indeed good news that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has declared his intention to resolve the issue soon. When the Speaker of Bangladesh came to participate in his swearing-in ceremony in May, she had raised this issue. Modi made it clear in Assam this week that his Government intends to move quickly on the 2011 protocol to the 1974 Land Boundary Agreement. He declared that rationalising the enclaves will not only be a good move from the security point of view but also help check illegal immigration.
While in opposition, the BJP had argued that the agreement would compromise India territorial integrity, as India would cede more land to Bangladesh. Perhaps, Mr Modi is following his ‘neighbours first’ policy in addressing this issue.
The agreement compels India and Bangladesh to exchange land and demarcate the land boundary between them. Assam, West Bengal, Meghalaya and Tripura will be affected by this exchange. The 111 Indian enclaves are spread over 17,158 acres of land and have a population of 37,369. They are spread across four districts in Bangladesh – Kurigram, Lalmonirhat, Nilphamari and Panchagarh. The 51 Bangladeshi enclaves, all located in Cooch Behar district of West Bengal, are spread over of 7,110 acres of land and have a population of 14,215. The Constitution (One Hundred and Nineteenth) Amendment Bill, 2013, proposes to give effect to this proposed land exchange. This long overdue exchange will harmonise India’s land boundaries.
Despite many efforts, the Parliament of India was not able to pass the Bill, honouring the Indira- Mujib agreement. A proposal recently cleared by the Standing Committee of Parliament unanimously recommended the exchange of the 161 adversely-held small enclaves . Here again the role of Indian States come into play. National and regional political parties including the BJP, the Trinamool Congress and the Asom Gana Parishad have politicised the issue. But once the LBA is ratified, India and Bangladesh will have a fully demarcated land border for the first time in their shared history.
But will the Modi Government be able to push through the legislation in this session? There are some doubts. First, it needs the cooperation of the Opposition and a lot of backdoor manoeuvrings. The Trinamool Congress is against the measure. Second, there is a tug of war between the BJP and the Trinamool Congress in West Bengal. The Congress, though it had authored the Bill, may not give in easily and demand some amendments. Logically, the Congress should not disown the legislation – party leader Shashi Tharoor even heads the Parliamentary Standing Committee which cleared the Bill on Monday. Still, with the NDA in a minority in the Rajya Sabha, getting the Bill passed may be difficult. The Modi Government must handle this issue carefully.
