BJP to oppose land boundary agreement with Bangladesh

BJP terms Land Boundary Agreement unconstitutional as Parliament lacks powers to transfer any part of country to foreign nation

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is unlikely to support the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government in Parliament, if a Bill is tabled to implement the Land Boundary Agreement with Bangladesh.

A senior leader of the party said the BJP would not support any legislation which would lead to a loss of territory for India. The leader added that doing so would be imprudent in an election year, as it could be interpreted as anti-national.

"We cannot afford to lose an election to ensure that Sheika Hasina's government wins in Bangladesh," the leader said. He further added that the BJP's position had been conveyed to External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid. The Hasina government is banking on the agreement as one of her successes before the upcoming elections there against Khalida Zia, who has criticised the Hasina government for her closeness to India.

If the government cannot manage the BJP's support then the proposed legislation cannot be passed, as the government needs the Opposition's support to pass a constitutional amendment, which requires a two-third majority.

It is learned that the BJP will question that the Land Boundary Agreement is unconstitutional, as  Parliament lacks the powers to transfer any part of the country to a foreign nation.

Taking recourse to the "Basic Structure" judgment of the Supreme Court, the BJP will ask the government to refer the matter to the Supreme Court first.

The basic structure doctrine is an Indian judicial principle that the Constitution of India has certain "basic features" that cannot be altered or destroyed through amendments by Parliament. These features though have not been explicitly defined by the judiciary, and the claim of any particular feature of the Constitution to be a "basic" feature is determined by the Court in each case that comes before it.

The India-Bangladesh enclaves, are enclaves along the Bangladesh-India border, in Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal. There are 106 Indian enclaves and 92 Bangladeshi enclaves. They have an estimated combined population between 50,000 and 100,000.

In September 2011, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Bangladesh's Sheikh Hasina had signed an accord on border demarcation and the exchange of adversely held enclaves; however, the Indian parliament has yet to ratify it. Under this intended agreement, the enclave residents would continue to reside at their present location or move to the country of their choice.