Student bodies in India’s northeast threaten agitation to scuttle deal on land exchange with Bangladesh

Immediately after the Upper House of the Indian Parliament ratified Land Boundary Agreement with Bangladesh, several student organisations of India’s Northeast have threatened to launch protest against Narendra Modi-led central government.

New Delhi Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 6 May 2015, 06:09 PM
Updated : 6 May 2015, 07:23 PM

The influential All Assam Student Union (AASU) burnt the effigy of the Indian prime minister and Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday in protest against their support to the Bill on the deal.

“We will start a severe campaign against both the Centre and the state government,” AASU President Dipankar Kumar Nath told bdnews24.com.

The AASU had initiated the movement against the land bill, opposing the transfer of Assam’s land to Bangladesh.

It was later supported by several other organisations of the region as well as political parties.

In a U-turn on its earlier stand to exclude Assam from the purview of the bill, the BJP-led government at the Centre passed the Constitution (One Hundred and Nineteenth) Amendment Bill, 2013, with 180 votes in the Rajya Sabha.

State Minister for Home Kiren Rijiju had recently announced that Assam would not be part of the land boundary agreement.

Referring to BJP’s earlier stand, Nath said, “They keep changing their stand every alternate day.”

He said the student body would launch a state-wide movement against the BJP government over its “double standard”.

The North East Student Organisation (NESO) said it would appeal to the people across the north-eastern region to oppose the government’s move.

“New Delhi has always been neglecting the people of the region, especially Assam,” said NESO leader Samujjal Bhattacharya.

He said Congress, too, betrayed the state.
                      
The Union Cabinet on Monday decided to pass the bill in its original form - including the territory of Assam - in an apparent last-minute change of its earlier decision.

The state unit of the BJP was initially opposing the bill.

“…whatever decision the party top brass takes, we will abide by it,” said a senior Assam BJP leader and a sitting MP on condition of anonymity.

The BJP’s sudden change of heart to include Assam territory was prompted by Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi’s strong objection to any change in the original draft without consulting the state government.

Modi also received indications from the Congress that they would not support the bill if the original draft was not placed.

Without the support of Congress, it would not have been possible for the BJP to pass the bill in the Upper House as it does not have requisite number.

Assam is supposed to get 231 acres of land including two tea gardens from Bangladesh, whereas Bangladesh side will get 268 acres of land having Bangladeshi population, in return.

This has become a contentious issue in the state.

West Bengal is supposed to lose 1957 acres but get 2,398 acres while Meghalaya will lose 41 acres and get 250 acres in return from Bangladesh.

Former Assam Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanto has criticised both the BJP and the Congress.
 
“Before the election, Modi had given one statement and after forming the government another …the Congress too used to do like this,” Mahanta, who is also a senior Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) leader, told bdnews24.com.
 
Criticising the BJP leaders from the north-eastern region, Mahanta said that even State Minister for Home Kiren Rijiju and Sports and Youth Affairs Minister Sarbananda Sonowal have been twisting serious regional issues for the benefit of their party.
 
“They have lost moral ground to sit in power,” Mahanta said giving his reaction over the passage of the contentious land bill in India’s Parliament on Wednesday.