From Our Correspondent
Guwahati: Protests were rife in Assam against the agreement signed by India and Bangladesh at Dhaka on Tuesday to pave the way for handing over of ‘disputed border land’ to Bangladesh.
Effigies of the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi who has accompanied the PM on his current Dhaka visit, were set on fire on the streets of different parts the capital city here on Wednesday by members of Opposition political parties including Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) for agreeing to handover Assam’s land to Bangladesh as per the agreement signed at Dhaka on Tuesday. A prominent NGO, Krishak Mukti Sangram Samity (KMSS) took out a torch light protest rally to register it [rotest aganst the land-swapping agreement between India and Bangladesh.
The AGP and the BJP burnt effigies of the PM and Tarun Gogoi on the streets in front of their state party headquarters in the city while the AASU did the same near Gauhati High Court. All of the political and non-political groups have vowed to launch agitation against the Government of India’s decision to handover ‘state’s land’ to Bangladesh.
“It is equal to compromising with India’s sovereignty,” said state BJP general secretary Prodyut Bora. The AGP while registering protest stated that the party would observe September 6 as a ‘day of betrayal’ every year to highlight how the ruling Congress ‘stooped to betraying the people of Assam’ by agreeing to handover Assam’s land to the neighbouring country.
Meanwhile, the anti-talks faction of the ULFA led by its ‘commander-in-chief’ Paresh Barua in an e-mailed statement issued to the media here registered its protest against the ‘land handover’ saying the agreement signed by the Indian Government with Bangladesh to handover adversely possessed land went against the interest of indigenous people of Assam. The outfit called upon the politicians of the state to learn a lesson from West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee who had skipped the Dhaka trip with the PM to derail the proposed water sharing treaty between the two countries.
There are as many as 25 points along the 4,156-km boundary, of which India adversely possesses 1,165.49 acres of Bangladesh land, while Bangladesh possesses 1,880.81 acres on the Indian side.
According to data available, Bangladesh is in adverse possession of 665 acres of land in the Assam sector. This includes about 160 acres in Dhubri district, and two plots of 360 acres and 145 acres in Karimganj district.
The 160 acres of area in Boroibari in Dhubri district is now set to be given away to Bangladesh while the other country has to give up its claims over about 360 acres in Palakhal in Karimganj district except for about 69 acres. Another area of about 75 acres in Latitila-Dumabari, also in Karimganj district is likely to be conceded and in lieu of Bangladesh should give up claim over the 360 acres in Palakhal.