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‘Bangladesh Land Bill unfair to West Bengal’

There was a huge uproar in the House with TMC MPs tearing the bill in protest and storming into the well the moment external affairs minister Salman Khurshid introduced it in the House.

The bill was meant to exchange certain enclaves between India and Bangladesh and demarcate the border as per the 16 May, 1974 agreement between the then Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi and her Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

Speaking to the Millennium Post, TMC chief whip in the Rajya Sabha Derek O’Brien alleged that the bill was introduced through the back door by the Congress.

He said, ‘This was introduced via back door by the Congress. The vice chairman of the Rajya Sabha had promised that it won’t come up but now we seriously question his conscience. We tore the bill as part of the protest.’

Coming down heavily on the government’s move, he said, ‘They sneakily added the constitutional amendment bill to the legislative business for the day, which was unbecoming for bills of such importance. The entire House protested the move, except Congress and CPI (M). Are they loyal to Bengal or Bangladesh?’

Earlier, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee protested through a social networking site claiming that her government will not allow this move and advised, ‘People living in the areas to be exchanged must be asked first.’

She said, ‘It must be noted that our state will get only about 7,000 acres of land but will have to recede nearly 17,000 acres of land to Bangladesh. This cannot be accepted without taking into confidence and consent of the local people who lives in these enclaves.’
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