Team Clarion
RANCHI – Prime Minister Narendra Modi has lent support to the claims of Bangladeshi infiltrations in Jharkhand’s Santhal Pargana region as civil rights groups refuted the allegations describing them as “communal propaganda”.
Addressing a rally in Jamshedpur on Sunday, Modi accused the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM)-led government of “appeasement politics” and standing with “the infiltrators”.
“The JMM exploited tribal votes for political gains and now they are working with people who have captured the forests and the land. At present, infiltration is a big issue for Jharkhand. Two or three days ago, the Jharkhand High Court ordered an investigation by an independent panel. But the JMM government is not ready to accept that there is infiltration,” he said.
“Bangladeshi and Rohingya infiltration is a major threat in Santhal Pargana and Kolhan regions. The identity and demography of these regions are changing rapidly,” Modi added.
The prime minister also claimed that the population of tribals is rapidly changing, land is being grabbed, infiltrators have taken control of panchayats and amenities, and exploitation of women is increasing. Because of this infiltration, people in Jharkhand, in cities as well as villages, are feeling unsafe.
On Thursday, the Jharkhand High Court, while hearing a PIL on infiltration, had ordered the setting up of a committee to look into the issue of the declining population of tribal communities in the Santhal Pargana region.
Reacting to the decision of the high court, civil rights group Jharkhand Janadhikar Mahasabha (JJM) said that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), whose worker had filed the PIL in the court on the issue, had linked land disputes and violence to Bangladeshi infiltrators.
“In recent times, the BJP has been propagating that a large number of Bangladeshi infiltrators are entering Santhal Pargana, seizing land from tribals, marrying tribal women, and reducing the tribal population. The BJP linked several incidents of violence and land disputes in the region to Bangladeshi infiltrators. However, the affidavit filed by the Central Government has exposed the BJP’s attempt to communalise these local disputes by falsely portraying them as the result of Bangladeshi infiltration,” said the JJM on Saturday.
In detailed investigations, the Mahasabha and the Save Democracy Campaign had also found that these local land and familial/community disputes were being falsely linked to Bangladeshi infiltrators by the BJP.
According to the JJM, in the affidavit submitted to the high court on Thursday, the Central Government admitted that there is no established connection between Bangladeshi infiltrators and the recent land disputes in Santhal Pargana. A PIL filed by a BJP worker had claimed that Bangladeshi infiltrators were marrying tribals to seize their land and infiltrate the region.
The group pointed out that the Central Government also mentioned in its affidavit that there is a possibility of infiltration from Pakur and Sahibganj, which border West Bengal but has provided no evidence in this regard. Additionally, the affidavit misrepresented statistics to claim that there has been a significant decline in the Hindu population in Santhal Pargana. It stated that in 1951, the total population of the region was 23.22 lakh, of which Hindus made up 90.37%, Muslims 9.43%, and Christians 0.18%. Out of the total population, 44.67% were tribals. The affidavit claimed that by 2011, the proportion of Hindus had decreased to 67.95%.
“Interestingly, the affidavit did not mention that in the 1951 census, there were only six religious categories (Hindu, Islam, Sikh, Christian, Jain, and Buddhist), and tribals were counted under the Hindu category. By contrast, in 2011, many tribals had recorded their religion as “Other/Sarna.” The affidavit silently considers tribals, who are neither Muslims nor Christians, as Hindus. This reflects the BJP and the Central Government’s politics of denying the distinct religious identity of tribals and categorising them as Hindus. In reality, if only non-tribal Hindus are counted, their number was 1,011,396 (43.56%) in 1951, which increased to 3,425,679 (49.16%) in 2011,” said the JJM.
As per the group, the communal agenda of labelling the issue of Bangladeshi infiltrators in Santhal Pargana is being increasingly exposed. For instance: 1) The local administration has stated in the high court that there are no Bangladeshi infiltrators in the region, 2) local people are saying there are no infiltrators, 3) national journalists have investigated the list of tribal women allegedly married to Bangladeshi Muslims, released by the BJP, and found it to be blatantly false, 4) the team formed by the Election Commission, which included BJP members, found nothing wrong in its investigation, 5) the fact-finding report by Mahasabha reached the same conclusion, and now, 6) the Central Government itself is saying there is no evidence of any involvement of Bangladeshi infiltrators. Despite this, the BJP continues to spread communalism and falsehoods under the guise of issues like Bangladeshi infiltration, “Land Jihad,” and “Love Jihad.”
