India’s parliament has unanimously cleared a constitutional amendment to ratify the land swap deal with Bangladesh.
Published : 07 May 2015, 07:28 PM
Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan at 6:44pm (local time) on Thursday announced the passage of the bill with 331 votes in favour and none against.
Immediately after its clearance, Prime Minister Narendra Modi personally thanked Congress President Sonia Gandhi in the Lok Sabha for her party’s support for the constitutional bill on Land Boundary Agreement.
Modi also called Sheikh Hasina to convey the ratification of the agreement that provided for exchange of territories between the two countries to settle a 41-year-old border dispute.
“This would contribute to a stable & peaceful boundary, better management & coordination of the border & will lead to enhanced security as well,” Modi said in a tweet.
The bill was unanimously passed by the Rajya Sabha earlier on Wednesday with 180 votes in favour.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj reached out to the opposition, appealing for their support to the bill when it came up for discussion in the Lower House of Indian Parliament.
“There was no vote against it and there was no abstention (in the Rajya Sabha). It sent a message to Bangladesh that all political parties are one on the issue,” she told the Lok Sabha before the bill was passed.
Passage of the bill in both houses of Indian parliament will pave the way for the settlement of a protracted boundary dispute between the two neighbours.
It will also change the map of the two countries with exchange of enclaves and territories under adverse possession.
Immediately after the Lok Sabha’s ratification, Modi also called up Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi and thanked him for extending support and cooperation in getting the bill passed in Parliament.
In a telephone conversation, Modi said, “Your (Gogoi) support and cooperation helped us in passing the bill easily in the Parliament.”
He also thanked all the political parties.
“My thanks to all the political parties for their cooperation, as also to the states of Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Tripura and West Bengal.
“This reflects the collective will of the nation to build constructive relations with our neighbours,” he said.
“I want to convey my gratitude to our NDA allies for the support and co-operation that led to the passage of the India-Bangladesh Land Boundary Bill.
“Spoke to Sonia ji, Kharge ji, Jayalalithaa ji, Karunanidhi ji, Yechury ji, Mayawati ji, Mulayam Singh ji, Naveen Babu and Sharad Yadav ji.
“I thanked these leaders for their support in the historic passage of the Bill that will mark a fresh chapter in our ties with Bangladesh,” the prime minister said in the tweet.
As expected, the passage of the bill drew criticism of some political parties and organisations in Assam.
“With the passage of the bill, Centre has once again betrayed the people of the north-eastern states,” Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) President Atul Bora told bdnews24.com.
He said the BJP as well as the Congress would pay a heavy price in the coming Assam Assembly election “for this betrayal”.
Bangladesh Parliament already ratified the 1974 land boundary accord between two countries.
In 2011, then Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh signed the protocol for transfer of territories during his visit to Bangladesh.
The proposed bill would enable each side to acquire the enclaves within its borders, along with other disputed territories.
People living in the enclaves would have the right to move to live in their original country of nationality or to become nationals of the country of their ‘choice’ after the exchange.
There are 51 Bangladeshi enclaves with about 15,000 people within the states of Meghalaya, Tripura and West Bengal.
With the new agreement, these will become part of India and the people here have the option to relocate to Bangladesh if they prefer.
Across the border, there are about 100 enclaves that will be officially a part of Bangladesh now.