New Delhi, India (BBN)-The inclusion of Assam happened in the face of much opposition from RSS and the Assam unit of BJP.
This so-called setback is being attributed by them to divisions within the government on the LBA, reports The Times of India.
“Important people in the government had sympathy with the view that the LBA could not be operationalised without including Assam,” said a government source.
“These people had been shouted down when RSS and BJP had taken (the opposite) view a couple of years ago, but were able to carry the day this time round… Within the government it was felt that RSS and local BJP unit’s objections to the giving away of ‘adverse position’ land to Bangladesh had to be overcome,” said the source.
Party president Amit Shah called a meeting on Monday night of senior ministers Sushma Swaraj and Venkaiah Naidu along with sports minister Sarbananda Sonowal, BJP general secretary Ram Madhav, RSS functionary Krishna Gopal and BJP’s Assam MPs.
The proposition was put to them at this meeting.
“It was awkward to say the least, since the party had created an atmosphere in the state where there were emotions linked with the LBA,” said a source.
In fact, in 2012, Madhav had questioned the giving away of 10,000 more acres of territory to Bangladesh under the agreement in a tweet.
He had also articulated some of this in his book ‘Uneasy Neighbours: India and China’ in another context.
“We were told that the deal was in abeyance for 40 years and it had to be done,” said an MP. Officially, BJP has taken a sanguine view of the matter.
“Since this was an issue of national interest, we have to take a consensus view. Congress and the Assam CM insisted the state be included in the LBA, and to build a consensus we agreed,” said BJP’s Sudhanshu Trivedi.