Penny Wise, Pound Foolish

Some regional political parties like the Trinamool Congress and the Asom Gana Parishad have opposed the introduction of the 119th Constitutional Amendment Bill in Parliament that will formalise the 2011 India-Bangladesh land boundary agreement (LBA) signed during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Dhaka. They say they will not allow “an inch of land to be given to Bangladesh”. Earlier the Bharatiya Janata Party had also opposed it but its lawmakers did not oppose the introduction of the bill. Hopefully, India’s leading opposition party will not oppose its passage.

After the Awami League came to power in Dhaka in January 2009, relations between India and Bangladesh have improved significantly in areas like trade and commerce, connectivity including people-to-people contacts and security cooperation. While what has been achieved is impressive, it provides an opportunity to move our relations to the next level. The LBA ratification by our Parliament could prove to be a catalyst in this regard.