NEW DELHI: India has inched closer to settling a long-simmering border dispute with Bangladesh, possibly signalling a softer line from Prime Minister Narendra Modi than when he was in opposition.

On Monday, a parliamentary committee urged the government to table a constitutional amendment that would pave the way for a land swap deal that Bangladesh and India have been negotiating for years. That followed a speech by Mr Modi at the weekend that suggested a solution was in the offing.

A deal with Bangladesh would end decades of uncertainty for tens of thousands of citizens living in enclaves on the “wrong” side of their homeland’s border.

Dozens of enclaves exist on either side of the border, a historical oddity left after British India’s partition in 1947.

The proposed solution would enable each side to acquire the enclaves within its borders, along with other disputed territories. On paper, the exchange appears to leave India with about 10,000 acres less territory and affects the more than 50,000 people living in the enclaves, as of a July 2011 headcount.

People living in the enclaves would have the right to move to live in their original country of nationality or to become nationals of their ‘new’ country after the exchange. Most are expected to stay put, according to the Indian government.

Neither country would lose any territory they currently control, said Shashi Tharoor, head of the parliamentary committee and a minister in the previous government.

IDENTITY “It is merely regularising the existing reality in a way that permits both countries to extend normal public services to the residents of these areas,” Mr Tharoor said.

Despite the BJP’s past objections, Modi seemed to back such a deal during a speech on Sunday in Assam, one of the Indian states that would be affected.

“Whatever we do, there might be a perception of a short-term loss, but ultimately Assam will gain,” said Modi, who discussed the border with his Bangladeshi counterpart last week.

Published in Dawn December 2nd , 2014