India delinks Assam from LBA with Bangladesh

New Delhi: The constitution amendment bill to ratify Indo-Bangladesh Land Boundary Agreement is likely to be introduced in parliament in the second spell of its budget session with a major change by delinking Assam from it, apparently due to BJP’s electoral calculations in the state.
A draft Cabinet note is being prepared keeping Assam out of the purview of the pact following a directive of the top government functionaries, official sources said on Wednesday. There have been strong protests in Assam against the agreement as the state will lose a substantial size of land to Bangladesh but will not get anything in return. Assam is set to lose around 268 acres in the final arrangement. Assam giving up land is part of settling a disputed 6.1 km stretch that’s been with erstwhile east Pakistan since 1947 and Bangladesh since 1971.
As Assembly election is due in Assam in early 2016 and BJP is going to be the principal challenger of ruling Congress, poll considerations forced the saffron party to take a such a decision, sources said. BJP had won seven out of 14 Lok Sabha seats in the last Lok Sabha polls in Assam. According to the revised plan, the Indo-Bangladesh Land Boundary Agreement (LBA) will now involves West Bengal, Tripura and Meghalaya on the Indian side.
New Delhi is believed to have conveyed to Dhaka the issue of keeping Assam out of the LBA and the neighbouring country is understood to be open to considering such an adjustment if India feels that this is the only way to seal the deal, a showpiece in India-Bangladesh relations. Prime Minister Narendra Modi may visit Bangladesh in June and operationalise the LBA if it is ratified by Parliament. (PTI)