The BJP has come around to supporting the introduction of a bill to ratify a land boundary pact with Bangladesh, with sources saying the party did not want to play spoilsport on an issue vital to cross-border ties, says a report in 'Telegraph’, eastern India's leading English daily.
Published : 14 Aug 2013, 09:56 AM
The Constitutional (119th Amendment) Bill, 2013, may be introduced in the Rajya Sabha on Monday.
India and Bangladesh had signed a protocol to the boundary agreement in September 2011, when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had visited Dhaka.
But Parliament has to clear the agreement by a two-thirds majority in both Houses as it involves exchange of territories. A 6.1km undefined border stretch will be demarcated if the bill is passed.
The BJP had been opposing the bill’s introduction mainly because of stiff resistance from its units in Assam and Bengal, two states where stretches along the border will be redrawn if the legislation comes into force.
Last month, Lok Sabha Leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj had said her party would not let the bill be introduced.
But the BJP’s approach has since softened, specially after Bangladesh foreign minister Dipu Moni met senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley.
This was followed by a string of edit-page opinion pieces in the Indian media which blamed the BJP for being insensitive to Indian 'national interests' as failure to operationalise the land boundary agreement may adversely affect electoral prospects for Sheikh Hasina's Awami League government.
India's top English daily 'Times of India', also billed as the world's largest, ran at least three edit-page articles on the issue, the last being written by BJP MP Varun Gandhi who said by not operationalising the land boundary agreement, India was missing out on a 'real chance' to befriend Bangladesh.
Former Assam and Kashmir governor during BJP rule, S K Sinha, came out in a television interview attacking those blocking the Land Boundary agreement and the Teesta water sharing deal and said India must do all it can to help a 'real good friend like Hasina'.
Sinha is a former vice-chief of Indian army.
The 'Telegraph' report quotes BJP sources as saying that party veteran LK Advani on Tuesday night held a meeting with Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley, Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, asking them to allow the bill’s introduction in Parliament.
Introduction in the upper House will ensure that the bill will not lapse and can be taken up later even if it is not passed in this session or during the tenure of this Lok Sabha.
The bill couldn’t be introduced in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday because of disruptions. It prompted external affairs minister Salman Khurshid to hold a lengthy discussion with Sushma Swaraj in Parliament.