Guwahati: Facing flak from Opposition for his remark on resolving the Indo-Bangladesh border dispute by possible swapping of land in adverse possession, Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Friday said, he did not mean that the state's interest will be ignored in such a scenario.
"Do you think that, we will give up Assam's interest? There is dispute over land between the two countries since Independence, but none is giving up. Till today, no demarcation has been made in the areas in adverse possession of each other," he told reporters here.
On the criticism from the BJP and the AGP for his remarks, he said, "What did they do, when they were in power to recover the land under adverse possession of Bangladesh? BJP had only started the fencing work and now they are accusing me."
Gogoi had recently said, that a few villages in Assam can be handed over to Bangladesh and in return India can get few villages from the neighboring country.
He said, that India would get more land from the neighbour, if an agreement was signed during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's upcoming Bangladesh visit and proper demarcation was made on the disputed land in the Dhubri sector.
PTI
First Published: Friday, September 02, 2011, 20:53