Enclaves: Living on the edge

Arindam Sarkar

The ice between India and Bangladesh began melting after both the Houses of the Indian Parliament passed the 119^th Amendment to the Constitution in May 2015 and agreed to sign the pending Land Border Agreement (LBA) between the two countries.

The agreement paved the way for the swapping of land and population on the midnight of July 31, the process that would end by June 30, 2016. There are 111 Indian enclaves in Bangladesh and 51 Bangladeshi enclaves in the Cooch Behar district of India.

But the LBA is only one of the issues that have been straining the Indo-Bangla relations. The LBA is materializing after six decades, but the Indo-Bangla Teesta Water Sharing Treaty and checking of rampant infiltration of population and terrorists from the Bangladesh side through the porous border to India remain crucial bilateral issues. Added to this is Bengal’s dissatisfaction over Bangladesh’s banning of Hilsa export to India.

The first hurdle was crossed when Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in the presence of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, signed the LBA with Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in June 2016. Modi also assured that other bilateral irritants would be resolved amicably in the future.

Now that the enclaves have been exchanged, in the coming months it is the development at the micro level, and not political campaign or religious card that would determine the voting pattern of the settlers in the 51 enclaves of Coochbehar district in Bengal (on the Indian side) in the 2016 Assembly elections.

In the absence of electricity, sanitation, hospitals, schools, proper roads and supply of clean drinking water, life is terrible for the 15, 815 residents living in the enclaves on the Indian side. “We know that unless we undertake development work, the enclave dwellers will not vote for us. But before the 2016 Assembly polls, they will see that we are working to improve their living condition,” claimed North Bengal Development Minister Goutam Deb.

Out of the 15, 815 people living in the enclaves in Bengal, almost 12,000 of them will vote in 2016 Assembly polls. The voters of the 51 enclaves fall under the Assembly constituencies of Dinhata, Sitai Mathabhanga and Mekhliganj. Out of these, majority belongs to the Assembly segments of Dinhata and Mekhliganj that are held by Forward Bloc candidates. Congress has won Sitai and Mathabhanga belongs to the Trinamool Congress.

In 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the people of the enclaves voted en masse for the Trinamool candidates of Coochbehar and Jalpaiguri constituencies. For, they hoped the Trinamool would pave the way for the Land Border Agreement (LBA) and give them freedom from existence in no-man’s land.

“But in 2011 Assembly polls, the people of the enclaves voted on the basis of development in their local areas. In 2016 too, development of the enclaves would determine which way the people living in the enclaves would vote,” said Dinhata’s Forward Bloc MLA Udayan Guha.

By June 2016, the process of swapping of people would be completed by India and Bangladesh. From January 5, 2016, the new voters’ list would be compiled. Already 4,000 out of the 15, 815 of the enclaves in the Indian side are voters. “Once enclave dwellers get their citizenship by the end of this year, they can enroll themselves in the voters’ list,” said Udayan Guha.

Since majority of the residents in the enclaves of Coochbehar are Muslims, at times political parties played the religious card during the elections. But it has never been the overriding factor. Similarly, people who have been working with the enclave dwellers, like Diptiman Sengupta of Bharat Bangladesh Enclaves Exchange Committee and Debabrata Chaki, have tried to influence the local voting pattern. But lack of development in the enclaves has always taken precedence over such factors during elections.

“I agree there is no infrastructure in the enclaves. People are leading a pathetic life. We have to work on a war footing to make their life better,” said Goutam Deb. The minister pointed out that to begin with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee would soon lay the foundation stone of a bridge that would connect Haldibari with Mekhliganj.

Trinamool believes the signing of the LBA has created goodwill for Mamata Banerjee and the enclave dwellers are willing to give time to the CM to develop the enclaves. Meanwhile, the Forward Bloc and the Congress is confident of holding on to its bastions with the support of the enclave dwellers.

As for Bangladeshi Hilsa, which has almost vanished from the fish markets of Kolkata since Dhaka banned it export, Teesta holds the key. Sheikh Hasina told Mamata Banerjee that once the Teesta water starts flowing to Bangladesh from India, the Hilsa of River Padma would find its way to the Ganges of Bengal. So the ban would be only lifted after the Indo-Bangla Teesta Water Sharing Treaty is signed.