When Borders Shift, But Belonging Is Still Contested

2015 Land Boundary Agreement & the 2025 Identity Crisis

✍️ Suryavanshi IAS | UPSC Deep Insight Series | English Edition

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📜 Part 1: The Historical Context — Land Belongs to Countries, But People Belong to Identities

In 1974, India and Bangladesh signed the Land Boundary Agreement (LBA) to resolve the anomaly of enclaves — pockets of territory belonging to one country entirely surrounded by the other. For decades, people lived stateless lives — physically located in Bangladesh, but legally Indian, or vice versa.

✅ The 2015 Ratification

In 2015, under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership, India ratified the LBA, enabling the exchange of 162 enclaves:

Swap Summary
🔁 111 Indian enclaves in Bangladesh transferred to Dhaka
🔁 51 Bangladeshi enclaves in India incorporated into Indian territory

As a result:

• ~14,000 enclave residents opted to migrate to India.

• They were issued Indian citizenship, travel passes, Aadhaar, and voter IDs.

• Resettlement camps were established in West Bengal in areas like Dinhata, Haldibari, and Mekhliganj.

These individuals are Indian citizens by law, yet, socially invisible, as we shall see.

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🚨 Part 2: June–July 2025 — When the Police Forgot the Constitution

In June 2025, six Bengali-speaking men from Dinhata, West Bengal, working at a brick kiln in Haryana, were picked up by Delhi Police and accused of being illegal Bangladeshi immigrants.

👤 The Victims:

• Former residents of Indian enclaves in Bangladesh

• Chose Indian citizenship in 2015

• Have been working in NCR for over 10 years

• Possessed all valid documents (Aadhaar, voter ID, citizenship certificates)

🚓 The Accusation:

• Police claimed they had Bangladeshi documents on their phones

• Remittance records to relatives in Bangladesh were cited as "evidence"

• Spoke Bengali, wore lungis — became objects of suspicion

Despite having documentation verified by local police in Haryana, they were:

• Detained illegally for up to 6 days

• Allegedly beaten and coerced into “confessing” they were Bangladeshi

• One woman and a child were also detained when they came to submit identity proof

“They beat the soles of my feet and my arms with a belt. They asked me to say I was Bangladeshi. I refused,” said one of the victims.

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⚖️ Part 3: Constitutional, Ethical & Administrative Failures

🧾 Aadhaar ≠ Citizenship

Police claimed Aadhaar was invalid as proof. Technically, they are partially correct — Aadhaar is not proof of citizenship, but:

🔹 Victims had voter ID, travel passes, land papers, and were part of official LBA records.

Ignoring these is not just misgovernance — it is administrative violence.

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📜 Violation of Constitutional Rights

Article	Right Violated
14	Equality before law – Profiling on linguistic/religious grounds
21	Protection of life & liberty – Illegal detention, physical abuse
22	Right to be presented before magistrate within 24 hours

Even Delhi Police admitted on July 9 that the detention was “illegal,” but denied custodial violence.

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🔍 Linguistic and Religious Profiling

"Bengali-speaking Muslims are being hounded as Bangladeshis," alleged Trinamool MP Samirul Islam.

• The intersection of language, appearance, and religion is being used to stereotype entire populations.

• NCR residents with “non-Hindi” accents or cultural traits are increasingly viewed with suspicion.

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🧠 UPSC Relevance – A Multi-Dimensional Issue

📘 GS Paper 2 – Governance, Polity, Rights

• Citizenship Law interpretation

• Federalism: Delhi Police acting beyond its jurisdiction (in Haryana)

• Role of State Welfare Boards (e.g., West Bengal Migrant Welfare Board)

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🔬 GS Paper 3 – Internal Security, Border Management

• How illegal immigration is tackled administratively

• Challenges of identifying “genuine citizens”

• Surveillance tools vs privacy/freedom

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🧭 GS Paper 4 – Ethics

• Violation of police code of conduct

• Moral duty to protect vulnerable migrants

• Dilemma: Security vs Human dignity

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✍️ Mains Practice Question

Q. The 2015 India-Bangladesh Land Boundary Agreement resolved a historic territorial issue, but gaps in administrative awareness continue to challenge the dignity of new Indian citizens. Examine in light of recent detentions of enclave-origin migrants.
(250 words | GS Paper 2)

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📚 Prelims Practice Questions (Bilingual)

Q1. Under the 2015 India-Bangladesh Land Boundary Agreement, how many enclaves were exchanged?

a) 51
b) 111
c) 162 ✅
d) 200

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Q2. Which of the following is not valid proof of Indian citizenship?

a) Passport
b) Voter ID
c) Citizenship Certificate
d) Aadhaar ✅

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Q3. Under which article can no person be detained for more than 24 hours without judicial oversight?

a) Article 14
b) Article 21
c) Article 22 ✅
d) Article 19

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🧭 Suryavanshi IAS Takeaways

• Statelessness can persist even after State recognition, when institutions lack awareness.

• Language, food, and dress are cultural identities, not legal indicators of nationality.

• Being a citizen means nothing if you're always trying to prove it.

"Borders drawn on maps are easier to erase than the borders drawn in minds."

🧠 Suryavanshi IAS doesn’t just prepare you for UPSC. It prepares you to think like a citizen of conscience.