Implement land deal with Bangladesh

India's main opposition Congress yesterday asked the BJP-led NDA government to take the Land Boundary Agreement (LBA) with Bangladesh forward for implementation after a parliamentary body submitted its report on the issue in both houses of parliament.

The move came a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi said his government was determined to go ahead with the LBA as it would serve India's long-term security interest.

Shashi Tharoor, Congress leader and chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on external affairs ministry, said the committee tabled the “unanimous” report in both houses of parliament on the 119 Amendment Bill.

An amendment of the constitution is required by India as implementation of the deal involves exchange of land.

The committee in its report asked the government to take “urgent steps” for presenting the bill in parliament “without any further delay”. The bill has been hanging fire for more than a year.  

The report said delays in the passage of the bill have needlessly contributed to the perpetuation of a huge humanitarian crisis.

Congress' support for the bill is expected to ensure smooth passage of it in Rajya Sabha where the ruling BJP lacks a majority. However, BJP has a comfortable majority in Lok Sabha. The bill needs to be passed by a two-thirds majority in both the Houses.

Tharoor said, “There were five meeting sessions with different political parties. There were Congress, BJP and Trinamool Congress members in the committee, who gave their views on the topic. The secretaries of the external affairs and home ministries, and a representative of the West Bengal government also made a presentation on the topic.”

He also took a dig at the BJP for opposing the agreement previously as an opposition party.

The Congress-led UPA-II government in last December had managed to introduce a constitutional amendment bill to facilitate the swap of land enclaves with Bangladesh, amid din and high drama which saw members of Trinamool Congress and Asom Gana Parishad trying to snatch copies of the proposed legislation from the then external affairs minister Salman Khurshid. It was later referred to the standing committee.

The bill proposes to amend the first schedule of the Indian constitution to give effect to the LBA on acquiring and transfer of territories between the two countries. The first schedule defines the area of each state and union territory which together constitute India.

The bill is aimed at ratifying the LBA between India and Bangladesh under the Indira-Mujib pact of 1974 to exchange areas and people on either side of the border.

Under the LBA, India will give 111 enclaves covering 17,160 acres to Bangladesh and receive 51 enclaves covering 7,110 acres. Around 51,000 people reside in these enclaves.

The territories involved in the exchange are in the Indian states of Assam, West Bengal, Meghalaya and Tripura.

The report by the standing committee said it expected a “modest demographic change in both countries to take place after the agreement [LBA] comes into force and that it would necessitate some Indian citizens returning to the mainland from the previously-held enclaves and a number of currently Bangladeshi nationals being given Indian citizenship after the area is ceded to India.”

It asked the Indian government to take measures to check the identities of Bangladeshi residents “who will be given Indian citizenship upon incorporation of the territory.”