Assam govt flays BJP on Bangladesh land deal

Guwahati:Assam government on Thursday accused BJP of adopting a “double-standard” position regarding India’s Land Boundary Agreement with Bangladesh and said the party has changed its stand after Lok Sabha polls.
“It is a double standard by BJP. Earlier they had one stand and now another,” Revenue Minister Prithibi Majhi said in the ongoing Winter Session of the Assam Assembly here.
He was responding to a discussion during the Zero Hour by Congress MLA Bhupen Kumar Borah over the land swap deal. Majhi said when the UPA government had signed the agreement with Bangladesh, BJP criticised Congress and said it would oppose any attempt to give Assam land to the neighbouring country.
“However, after coming to power, they are also supporting it,” he added. Majhi said it is under the consideration of the Central government and they will decide whether to proceed with it by bringing in a Constitutional ratification or scrap it.
BJP MLA Jadav Chandra Deka said the present government at the Centre is going ahead with the agreement because it was signed by the former Prime Minister of India. Borah earlier in his speech said BJP misguided the people of Assam after former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had signed the LBA and opposed the deal for political mileage.
“The present Union Youth Affairs and Sports Minister Sarbananda Sonowal had then said not one inch of Assam land would be given. Even the BJP MLAs protested in the Assembly by holding placards inside the complex,” he added. (PTI)