A peaceful swap of ‘enclaves’

When all is done, what would stand out is the entirely peaceful exchange of the so-called “enclaves” between India and Bangladesh on the midnight of July 31, as the recently concluded Land Boundary Agreement between the two countries took effect. With the LBA becoming operational, the people of Bangladeshi enclaves — tiny territories — within India and of Indian enclaves in Bangladesh simply moved over to the country of their choice following a joint census of the two nations concluded in 2011.

Fortunately there was no military ritual or official drama of any kind by either side. That could conceivably have led to triumphalism. The only ones to celebrate — with colours of the Indian flag — were the ultra-poor residents of the 51 Bangladeshi blocks on the Indian side who, perhaps to the last person, chose to make India their new home, this time officially and formally, raising India’s population by about 14,000 persons. On the other side, the approximately 37,000 people in the Indian pockets inside Bangladesh chose to stay with that country, minus a group of just under 1,000 people who opted for India.

When the enclaves merged into the country where they physically existed, India gained 7,110 acres and Bangladesh 17,160 acres. There was no massive influx of population, as feared by some. A minor distortion caused by the key principle that had guided the Partition of India in 1947 (present Bangladesh being the old East Pakistan) — if a district had a majority of people of one faith in a province where those of the other faith were preponderant, the district in question merged with the country where its co-religionists constituted the majority — has been straightened out.

What now appears such a straightforward solution provided there is goodwill between nations, seemed a difficult proposition not so long ago, with the BJP (earlier the Jana Sangh) drumming up protests on the plea that India would be lose large chunks of land and Bangladeshi Muslims will flood India. It was on this basis that the effort of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to sign the LBA was stymied as recently as 2011. Prime Minister Narendra Modi cracked the problem by selling the idea to his party and the Hindutva groupies that India would be safer from illegal Muslim migrants if the 4,100-km boundary was properly aligned, with mutual accord between India and Bangladesh.

It is expected that practical issues that may come to dog particular individuals or families — of people in enclaves fraudulently getting papers of the other side to obtain hospital, educational or employment facilities — will be smoothed by the end of the year since goodwill exists on both sides for this historical step.