Land deal caught in BJP-Congress row

After the failure to ink the treaty of the Teesta river water-sharing, another major showpiece of India-Bangladesh relations, the land boundary deal, appears to have been caught up in the domestic political tussle between India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and main opposition Congress.

It began with the news that the BJP-led government wants to keep the northeastern state of Assam out of the purview of implementation of the Land Boundary Agreement (LBA).  A constitution amendment bill needs to be passed in both Houses of Parliament -- Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha -- for the LBA to be implemented because it involves exchange of land between the two countries.

Congress has already opposed the government's move to keep Assam out of the implementation of the Land Boundary Agreement. The party has conveyed its stand at a meeting of the Business Advisory Committee of Rajya Sabha. Sources said Congress has made it clear to the government that it will oppose the bill unless Assam is included in LBA.

A constitution amendment bill to operationalise the LBA is expected to be placed in the Rajya Sabha next week. The amendment bill was first tabled by the erstwhile Congress-led government in 2013.  

"How can you keep Assam out of it? The (Congress) government of Assam was in favour of the bill. Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi had even accompanied Prime Minister Manmohan Singh when he had visited Bangladesh in September, 2011 to sign an enabling agreement to implement LBA when Congress-led UPA was in power in India.

"This is weird that even as the government of the state is in favour of the agreement, it is being kept out because the opposition party (BJP in Assam) there does not want it," a senior Congress functionary said.

Indian Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu had said on Wednesday that the bill may be placed in Rajya Sabha on May 5, the first day of the last week of the budget session, with the important change of excluding Assam.

One leading Indian daily (The Hindu) reported quoting unnamed sources that the Indian cabinet has cleared a revised draft of the constitution amendment bill keeping Assam out.

The fact that the government wants to keep Assam out of the ambit of bill has been confirmed by two federal Indian ministers, including Minister Naidu.  

BJP lacks a majority in Rajya Sabha and the support of Congress is crucial for the bill's passage. Congress has many more members than the ruling BJP in the upper House of parliament.

BJP's desire to exclude Assam from LBA is prompted by its electoral calculations as it goes to fresh legislature polls early next year when the party hopes to come to power by ending Congress's 15-year rule in the state.

Out of 14 Lok Sabha seats in Assam, BJP had won seven and clocked up over 36 percent votes in the 2014 general elections while Congress had won only three seats. This, along with anti-incumbency against Congress, has generated optimism in BJP about coming to power in the state.

The BJP unit in Assam has opposed the exchange of enclaves between Bangladesh and India involving the territory of Assam since the party fears LBA implementation will hit its electoral prospects there.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself appeared keen to push through the LBA implementation without any change and he had tried hard-selling it at a rally in Assam in December last year.

At that time, Modi had acknowledged that LBA might lead to loss of territory for Assam but said he would ensure that the key issue--illegal migration confronting the state--is addressed adequately. Illegal migration is an emotive issue in Assam.

However, Modi's remarks had taken BJP Assam unit by surprise which has opposed the LBA tooth and nail. While Modi had apparently hoped to win over BJP Assam unit and he had met party lawmakers from that state in that effort, what seems to have muddied the waters is the opposition from BJP's ideological fountainhead RSS against including Assam in LBA implementation.

 "Earlier, the bill could not be brought because Mamata Banerjee was opposing it. Now when she has come on board, BJP has excluded Assam whose government was already on board on the issue. We will not allow this," he said.

If the domestic row over LBA implementation in India is between Congress and BJP, the tussle over Teesta water-sharing treaty saw Congress pitted against West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, a stand to which she has stuck till today.

A consensus in India on Teesta deal has eluded in the last four years and the question now is that will the LBA implementation will go the same way? The previous Congress government failed to deliver on Teesta and LBA but will the BJP government succeed? Success for Modi will be in perfect sync with his professed foreign policy of neighbourhood first.

So, it is not just Modi government's parliamentary agenda of pushing through the LBA bill which faces challenge but his neighbourhood policy too.