In 1947 at independence the state of Bengal was partitioned into West Bengal and East Pakistan. But the border between these parts of Bengal was not properly demarcated. Despite several attempts Pakistan was unwilling to make any settlement.
In 1971 East Pakistan became Bangladesh. The advent of Bangladesh created a new atmosphere of cooperation with India. In 1974 after intense negotiation demarcation was agreed upon but never implemented by either state. According to this agreement 51 enclaves within India were allocated to Bangladesh while 111 enclaves within Bangladesh were transferred to India.
One of many successes of Sri Narendra Modi is Indo-Bangladesh border settlement. Within the first year of becoming Prime Minister he visited Bangladesh. He signed the agreement along with Sheikh Hasina, Prime Minister of Bangladesh. It is now being implemented and the process will come into effect by November this year.
Until this settlement the people living in these 162 enclaves were stateless. They were deprived of basic necessities such as education and medical care. All of them are now either citizen of India or Bangladesh and will enjoy their right to these facilities.
The generosity of Modi was that he gave complete freedom to all the people of 162 enclaves to choose their citizenship. Accordingly everyone in 111 enclaves coming to India chose to be Indian and also over 1000 people of 51 enclaves going to Bangladesh chose to take up Indian citizenship.
Jatindra Saha
By email
