AGP members stymie bill to swap territory with Bangladesh

India's attempt to improve ties with Bangladesh by ceding it a strip of land in the state of Assam ran into trouble in the Rajya Sabha yesterday, when Asom Gana Parishad members strongly opposed it.

In fact there was considerable drama in the house as external affairs minister Salman Khurshid rose to move The Constitution (119th) Amendment Bill, 2013, in the midst of din caused by Bharatiya Janata Party over the coal block allocation issue and bribery allegations in the railway ministry.

AGP members Kumar Deepak Das and Birendra Kumar Baishya raised slogans carrying placards against the bill and rushed towards Khurshid seeking to snatch the copy of the bill from him.

Das and Baishya were prevented by some Congress members, including parliamentary affairs minister Rajiv Shukla, from snatching the bill. In the midst of this, Khurshid sat down without completing the the process of its introduction.

Amid the uproar, deputy chairman P J Kurien adjourned the house till 2 pm.

The Constitution Amendment Bill seeks to give effect to the acquiring of territories by India and transfer of certain territories to Bangladesh in pursuance of the agreement between the two countries signed over a year ago.

The AGP members later said that they were opposing the Bill because they feared the territory swap would lead to a secessionist movement in Assam.

''They cannot play politics with it. The centre has signed a pact with Bangladesh which is not known to the Assam people. They are doing it for their political interest. This is not in the interest of Assam. Because we are losing huge area of Assam to Bangladesh, we are not supporting it,'' said Baishya.

"If the government is giving away land to Bangladesh then it should give some land to Pakistan also. They are not giving Jammu and Kashmir to Pakistan but then why Assam? said Kumar Deepak Das.

Now only three days remain for the government to push through the bill, on which agreement has been reached with the BJP.