BJP demands permanent scrapping of land Bill

BJP's Assam unit President Sarbananda Sonowal today said that the party demanded the permanent scrapping of constitutional amendment Bill introduced in Rajya Sabha to facilitate swap of land enclaves with Bangladesh.
''The Bill is anti-Assam and against the interests of the state and the party will in no way allow land to be handed over to Bangladesh'', Sonowal said in a statement today.
The party was in a position to ensure the defeat of the Bill in both houses of Parliament and would go all out to permanently scrap the Bill preventing transfer of Assam's land to the neighbouring country.

Regarding allegation of ''double standards'' levelled against the BJP by other opposition parties in the state, Sonowal said this was ''not at all true as we have been opposing the land agreement since it was signed on September six, 2011''.
BJP's leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley had given in writing that the party was opposed to the introduction of the Bill but it was introduced in the Upper House without his knowledge and he was even denied a chance to hold forth his views on the matter, Sonowal said.
''The Congress is primarily responsible for the introduction of the Bill and Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, who is a son of Assam, and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, representing the state in the Upper House, have allowed this simply with an eye on the votebanks'', he added.

Sonowal said the real ''battle to scrap the land deal begins now and people of Assam can rest assured that BJP will fulfil its obligation and responsibilities to protect the interest of the state''.