For the people, a new state comes, but with a new set of problems

Atul Chandra Roy hardly slept on Friday night. As the clock struck midnight Chhit Panbari in Mekhligunj subdivision of Cooch Behar district of West Bengal broke out in revelry to celebrate the end of a 68-year-long trauma of living in a Bangladeshi enclave in India.

And as the sun broke rose on August 1, the tri-colour went up close to Atul Roy’s house. Enclaves had become a thing of the past. He and 14 people of two families living on this 108-acre patch were now bona fide citizens of India.

Atul Roy’s joy was shared by another 200 people of 48 families, living a few hundred feet away just beyond the enclave’s boundaries, but with a tinge of anxiety. About decade ago, they were all neighbours at Panbari, till some local politicians during the previous Left Front rule helped them build houses on Indian soil, allegedly by faking identity.

Politicians gained votes. Forty-eight out of 50 families, from the enclave, became “Indian” with their land assets remaining in this former Bangladeshi land. And, now those “Indian” farmers are worried. Will they retain ownership over the land?

At the root of the concern is the census conducted by India and Bangladesh of the enclaves in 2011. This headcount, the first in decades, became the reference point for all government documents in the run up to the historic Land Boundary Agreement signed by the two nations in June.

As demanded by the Bharat Bangladesh Enclave Exchange Coordination Committee (BBEECC) – an activist group that was fighting for the end of human tragedy in all 162 enclaves in India and Bangladesh – both the countries agreed to treat the 2011 report as the master roll for the latest round of head count in 2015 that pegs total enclave population at around 51,000 with 14,000 on the Indian side.

No new families were included in the 2015 list. Only the natural progression of the families enlisted in 2011 were accounted for. The entire rehabilitation package banks on this roll. More importantly, the leaders of the ruling Trinamool Congress in West Bengal now favour vesting the land assets of ‘Indians’ in enclaves. “Party (Trinamool) leaders are saying, my eight bigha (one bigha is 0.33 acre) land in Chhit Panbari will be vested,” says Utpal Roy. Utpal’s is one of those families who shifted from enclave. He is not alone. Travel across the enclaves and there are now serious concerns over the fate of enclave land. Many have approached district Trinamool Chief Rabidranath Ghosh, and he reportedly made it clear that Utpals stand no chance.

“We are happy that the enclave issue is finally resolved. But we expect the government to take a considerate view. After all, the prevailing situation forced us to take unfair means,” says Utpal.

Utpal’s may be a simple case of ‘illegality’. But what has made the whole process controversial is the so called “omissions and commissions” in the census list. Take the case of Arun Roy, a landed gentry in the nearby Balapukhari enclave who is also a prominent local BBEECC activist. Like Utpal, Arun too has his home in India. But he ensured that his name features in the 2011 list. Arun doesn’t deny that his “Indian” status either. But he blames the Utpals for failing to enlist.

The same logic is used by Abul Hossein, another prominent BBEECC activist, to describe the exclusion of a substantial portion of the 70 Hindu families in the Muslim dominated Poaturkuthi enclave, in Dinhata. As per the census, Poaturkuthi has 3,040 people. Locals say 250-300 have been excluded from the list. “Hindus living in enclaves were not as much ostracised by the wider community. Naturally, they didn’t take the exercise seriously,” Hossein said. The argument is not baseless. But the exclusion is sure to spark a fresh controversy.

Annabala Roy and her son Rabindranath Roy of Chhit Kuchlibari are unfortunate victims of this census. On the day of the count, both were away and excluded. Annabala’s young daughter made it but she is married to an Indian.

The problem is there in Bangladesh too. While the official list says Dasiar Chhara in Kurigram district of Bangladesh has 6,889 people, an unofficial count puts it at 10,297. According to a rough assessment, at least 30 per cent of the original residents of these former Indian enclaves have already melded into the country.

Since Muslims enjoyed greater social acceptance in Bangladesh, they form almost the entire body of absentee residents in enclaves in Bangladesh.

But unlike in India, where the administration is reportedly banking on the census roll to set the land records right, in Bangladesh the census may be of less significance in claiming ownership over property.

“Situation forced enclave residents to look for alternatives. And, we must not now deprive them of their property rights for exclusion from the census list,” said Abraham Lincoln, a lawyer and a senior functionary of the ruling Awami League in Kurigram.

Lincoln wants the authorities to be lenient. Many in India, like Rashid Mian of large Nalagram enclave that has a mixed population of 1,727 people, supports Lincoln’s views. The West Bengal government that has a final say on the issue has been maintaining a deafening silence.

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