By Kalyani Shankar
At last, the Indian Parliament may ratify the long awaited Land Boundary Agreement between India and Bangladesh in the current session. It is an issue, which has remained a sour point between the two countries for the past four decades. The delay was mainly because India’s foreign policy has been held hostage to domestic politics.
Folklore has it that the islands of 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. These noblemen used these villages as a wager. Thus, some villages in Cooch Behar became the properties of Rangpur while villages within Rangpur came to be owned by the Cooch Behar Maharajas. This informal arrangement between the two rulers allowed collection of revenues and administering of the respective ‘enclaves.’ But after the Partition, Rangpur became part of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) while Cooch Behar became part of India when its Maharaja Jitendra Narayan acceded his princely state to India in August 1949. These places have been left as they were found by both India and Bangladesh. By the Land Boundary Agreement of 1974 and the 2011 Protocol to the Agreement, India and Bangladesh have agreed to exchange these enclaves and demarcate the land boundary between them. The Constitution (One Hundred and Nineteenth) Amendment Bill, 2013 proposes to give effect to this proposed land exchange.
The people of these Indo-Bangla enclaves – numbering around 60,000 – have been rendered stateless due to a cartographic anomaly. Devoid of basic services such as electricity, hospitals or schools, the residents are stuck without any relief. The agreement envisages transfer of 111 Indian enclaves to Bangladesh while Bangladesh would transfer 51 enclaves to India. Through the swapping of adversely possessed land, India will gain 700 acres of land.
Four agreements had been attempted before. One was Prime Minister Nehru’s pact with his Pakistani counterpart Feroz Khan Noon in 1958; the second between Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and Mujibur Rehman in 1974; the third between Rajiv Gandhi and Gen H.M. Ershad in 1986; and the fourth between P.V. Narasimha Rao and Begum Khaleda Zia in 1992 signed agreement for exchange of enclaves.
Once the Parliament ratifies the agreement, it would not only end the dispute but also open up a new era in the relationship. These stateless people might get their identity. Moreover, it should be noted that the stipulated share of Bangladesh (268 acres) has been in de facto possession of that country. The same applies to Indian possessions in Bangladesh. The ratification will now formalize their respective positions.
Secondly a settlement at this time would be seen as a gesture of Modi government’s goodwill and improve the ties between India and Bangladesh and strengthen Prime Minister Hasina’s hands. Various Bangladesh regimes have resented the fact that India had not ratified the treaty for 41 years.
Thirdly, Prime Minister Modi is planning to visit Bangladesh in June. If the treaty is ratified he could go to Dhaka armed with this good news. Since he took over Bangladesh has been prodding him for this measure. The Prime Minister has been talking of ‘neighborhood first’ concept and the ratification would show that he means what he says despite opposition from his own party’s Assam unit. The land swap deal would go a long way to improving India’s image in the neighborhood as well as in the international arena. The neighbours often view India with suspicion because of its size, economy and military might and see New Delhi as a bully. That in turn encourages them to turn to China.
Fourthly, the demarcation of the boundaries may check the illegal immigration on the eastern border. This deal could particularly benefit the North East and Assam.
Resolving the land issues would enable borders in these areas to be secured. New Delhi would be able to talk officially about the issue of migrating Bangladeshis, a thorny problem for Assam for nearly three decades. Shiv Sena and AGP and the BJP have been agitating about the illegal immigration and demand they be deported.
Fifthly, the border settlement will open up and create huge economic opportunities for both Bangladesh and the Border States including Assam, West Bengal, Meghalaya and Tripura. They can garner huge economic benefits by getting connected with Bangladesh. Dhaka could be a gateway for India to open to the East Asian countries. India could seek from Bangladesh as a goodwill gesture transit rights to its northeast, bringing development to the region. Bangladesh too will benefit by the deal.
One might wonder why it had taken so long but it was politics, which was blocking the deal even this time.
When the Congress was in power the BJP opposed the LBA. Now that the BJP is in power the Congress tried to put a spoke on the measure for political reasons. BJP’s desire to exclude Assam from LBA was prompted by its electoral calculations as it goes to Assembly polls early next year when the party hopes to come to power by ending Congress’s 15-year rule in the state. But the Congress made it clear that it will not support the bill if Assam was excluded making the BJP yield to its pressure.
The ratification is bound to restore the credibility of India with Dhaka and also within the region. The other smaller neighbors too might get encouraged to do business with the Modi government. So all is well that ends well. (IPA Service)