Why Modi will get a hero's welcome in Bangladesh

Parliament's clearance to the Land Boundary Agreement Bill has ensured that Prime Minister Narendra Modi gets the same tumultuous welcome which the late Indira Gandhi received when she first visited Bangladesh in 1972, reports Rediff.com contributor Prakash Bhandari from Dhaka.

Ever since both the Houses of Parliament passed the Land Boundary Agreement Bill, Bangladesh's respect for India has soared.

India today enjoys the same admiration and respect that it commanded during the emergence of Bangladesh as a nation.

"India has proved time and again that it remains Bangladesh's best friend. Its concern for Bangladesh has been tested several times and every time India has come clean. The LBA is the best thing to happen for Bangladesh since the birth of our nation. Even when Bangladesh was part of East Pakistan, their border problems plagued us. However, now because of the grand initiative taken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi all disputes related to the border which had been pending since Partition in 1947 have been solved," said Asma Rahman, a teacher in an English medium school.

People in Bangladesh's capital Dhaka are keenly awaiting the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, scheduled for the first week of June.

The Indian high commission in Dhaka is working overtime to make Modi's visit a great success.

"Modi would get the same welcome which the late Indira Gandhi received when she first visited Bangladesh in 1972, after the liberation war and the nation's birth. Indira was hailed as the mother of Bangladesh. Now Modi would be welcomed by the Bangladeshis as the leader who solved the 41-year-old border problem," said Abdul Matin, who lost both his legs in the 1971 war.

Matin said many other freedom-fighters like him have welcomed India's gesture and it would be remembered as a historic decision.

"What is creditable is that the issue which was once opposed by the Bharatiya Janata Party was supported by the same party after coming to power. This speaks about the priority of a nation. The BJP had earlier opposed the issue because of the pressure exerted by the party's Assam unit and the Asom Gano Sangram Parishad," said Matin, who is now in his 'seventies.

The LBA solution has come as a shot in the arm for Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's government, whose popularity ratings had been severely hit owing to its failure to deliver on several fronts.

Bangladesh and India share a 4,096-km international border, the fifth-longest land border in the world. From 1947 till now, the unresolved problem of enclaves and adverse possession has been a source of constant friction. With the LBA Bill, Modi administration has sought to give effect to the acquisition of territories by India and Bangladesh and exchange of territorial enclaves in line with the 1974 agreement signed between Indira Gandhi and Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and its protocol inked during the former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Dhaka in 2011.

With the Bill being passed in Indian Parliament, the protocol shall be put up for ratification by the Bangladesh government in the forthcoming Budget session of its parliament and shall come into force on the date of exchange of instruments of ratification.

Ruling Awami League's lawmaker Abdus Shahid, who is overseeing the legislative aspect of the protocol, said the Bangladesh parliament will pass a bill for the ratification of the protocol.

"After the passage of the bill by the parliament, the two countries will exchange instruments of ratification and prepare terms of reference and the necessary rules to formally begin the implementation of the pact and redraws their maps," said Shahid.

Shahid said the LBA has three major components. It includes the exchange of enclaves and land under adverse possession and demarcation of 6.1 km of border that in the past had witnessed conflicts.

Out of the 162 enclaves, 111 enclaves constituting 17,160.63 acres of land that belong to India will be exchanged with 51 Bangladeshi enclaves constituting 7,110.02 acres.

All the Bangladeshi enclaves are situated in Cooch-Behar in northern West Bengal. The Indian enclaves are spread in the four districts of Bangladesh -- Panchagarh, Lalmonirhaat, Kaurigram and Nilpahamari.

Out of the 5,044 acres of land in adverse position, India would receive 2,777 acres and Bangladesh would get 2,267 acres.

"Bangladesh shares 320 km of border with Mizoram, 436 km with Meghalaya, 264 km with Assam, 864 km with Tripura and 226 km with West Bengal. Thus the bill passed by Indian Parliament will also go to these states assemblies for approvals," said a senior official of the Indian high commission in Dhaka.

The official said Assam will be gaining more land than what was under the adverse possession of Bangladesh till now. It will get a net land area of 445.6 acres once the LBA comes into force.

At one stage, because of the opposition of the Congress government in the state, Assam was being left out of the Land Boundary Agreement. But wiser counsel prevailed and the Congress supported the Modi government's move after an assurance that Assam would not lose out.

The change of governments in Bangladesh also caused long delays in resolving this long dispute.

During partition, some issues were left pending after the formation of Pakistan and this continued even after Bangladesh was formed. The BNP government in Bangladesh with Khaleda as the prime minister did not allow census to be carried out in the enclaves as per the 1974 Indira-Mujibur agreement.

In 2001, both countries set up high-powered joint border working groups to resolve the border demarcation issues. The JBWGs agreed to conduct a census in the enclaves and in 20013 the two countries signed the strip maps and in the same year both the countries exchanged 114 strip maps.

"The ratification of land agreement will resolve the border-related issue between the two neighbours. We now hope the next step of full implementation will be smooth." said Bangaldesh's foreign secretary, Shahidul Haque.

The LBA has brought happiness to over 50,000 inhabitants living in 162 enclaves along the India-Bangladesh border. These people were "nation-less" and were not regarded as nationals on either side.

According to a joint survey, 51,584 persons live in these 162 enclaves. Out of this, 37,369 are Indians living in 51 enclaves.

A visit by this writer to the Indian enclave inside Bangladesh's Bisporai village under Lalmonirhaat district showed visible relief on the faces of the people. While Muslims gathered in a mosque to thank the almighty, Hindu-dominated villages celebrated with drum-beats.

"Life was sub-human for us for decades; there was no education, employment, or healthcare for us. Now we would have a nationality," said Noni Gopal.

India has earned a lot of goodwill through the historic LBA.

"Now the border between the two nations should be seen as a bridge. Bangladesh is India-locked, surrounded by West Bengal and the northeastern states," remarked Jolly Khanum, a woman activist.

Khanum is hopeful that Modi, during his visit to Bangladesh, will take up the water-sharing dispute with the same vigour.