BJP denies its own claim of Bangladeshi infiltration in Santhal Pargana in High Court: This is a game of communal polarization
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| BJP's Claims of Bangladeshi Infiltration in Santhal Pargana: A Tactic for Communal Polarization |
Explore the BJP's recent claims of Bangladeshi infiltration in Santhal Pargana and the subsequent denial in the High Court. Understand how these allegations reflect ongoing communal polarization strategies ahead of elections.
BJP's Claims on Bangladeshi Infiltration in Santhal Pargana: Nishikant Dubey's Controversial Statements
Article by Sanjay Parate
BJP MP from Godda, Jharkhand, Nishikant Dubey, created a sensation in the Parliament by saying that the population of tribals in the Santhal Pargana region of the state is declining due to Bangladeshi intruders and their population has decreased by 16%. He had alleged that these intruders are occupying the land of tribals under the protection of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha government and hence, the President's rule should be imposed in the state.
Media's Acceptance of BJP's Claims: The Role of Media in Amplifying Communal Narratives
This allegation of Nishikant Dubey was readily accepted by the Godi media and stories of atrocities by Muslims and especially Bangladeshi intruders on the tribals began to be presented on a large scale. The IT cell of RSS-BJP presented local land disputes by linking them with alleged Bangladeshi intruders and also added the 'tadka' of Rohingya Muslims to it. The stories fabricated by the BJP propaganda media were presented as 'credible' so that they could be accepted by the general public and the game of communal polarization could be played in the upcoming assembly elections.
Asha Lakra's Allegations and Their Implications
To further intensify the BJP's anti-Muslim propaganda, Asha Lakra, a member of the Scheduled Tribes Commission and a BJP leader, released a list of 10 tribal women representatives from the Santhal Paragana region whose husbands were Muslims, in a press conference on July 28. She alleged that all of them were Rohingya Muslims and Bangladeshi infiltrators who had trapped tribal women. Thus, this list was publicised as 'proof' of the BJP's alleged claims.
High Court Affidavit Contradicts BJP's Allegations
Meanwhile, a staunch BJP worker filed a PIL in the Jharkhand High Court, claiming that Bangladeshi infiltrators were marrying tribals and looting their land and infiltrating. The High Court issued a notice to the Central Government on this petition. In response to this notice, in an affidavit dated September 12, 2024, the BJP-led Central Government has admitted that no link of Bangladeshi infiltrators has been established in the recent land dispute cases. In its affidavit, it has also admitted that the population growth rate of the tribals has decreased. Thus, the BJP-led government itself has exposed the BJP's game of giving these local disputes the colour of Bangladeshi infiltration. This is the "Chaal, Charitra and Chehra" of the BJP. But the BJP's propaganda campaign in the name of Bangladeshi infiltrators is still going on in the media, which shows how eager the BJP is to win elections by doing politics of hatred and dividing the society!
Findings from the Fact-Finding Report
On this propaganda of BJP, Jharkhand Janadhikar Mahasabha and Save Democracy Campaign have released a fact-finding report, which completely exposes this propaganda of BJP.
After examining the census data, this report states that between 1951 and 2011, the population of Hindus has increased by 24 lakhs, Muslims by 13.6 lakhs and tribals by 8.7 lakhs. Therefore, the BJP's claim that the population of Hindus and tribals is decreasing is completely false propaganda.
Population Statistics: A Closer Look
To make its claim credible, BJP is propagating that in 1951, the Hindu population in Santhal Pargana region was 90.37%, which has come down to 67.95% in 2011. This claim has also been exposed in the report and it has been told that in the 1951 census, census was done in only 6 religion codes (Hindu, Islam, Sikh, Christian, Jain and Buddhist) and the tribal community was considered Hindu. But in 2011, many tribals had registered themselves as 'other or Sarna'.
Thus, in 1951, out of the total population of 23.22 lakh in this region, the combined population of tribals and Hindus was 20.99 lakh, whereas in 2011, out of the total population of 69.68 lakh, the population of Hindus (including tribal Hindus) has increased to 47.35 lakh, as claimed by the BJP, and this does not include non-Hindu tribals. It is clear from these population figures and their analysis that the population of Hindus has not decreased in this region.
Debunking the Myth of Declining Tribal Populations
So has the population of the tribals decreased? No, their population has also increased from 10.87 lakh in 1951 to 19.59 lakh in 2011. The population has increased, but their percentage in proportion to the total population has fallen from 46.8% to 28.11%. The fact finding team has also investigated this decline in the growth rate of the tribal population and has attributed it to inadequate nutrition, lack of health facilities, economic hardship, their alienation from the land and migration in search of employment and hope of a better life. These are the reasons for which the policies of the central and state governments are responsible and hence the government is directly responsible for the low growth rate of the tribal population.
Communal Narratives vs. Ground Reality
During the same period, the population of Muslims in this region has increased, whose proportion in the total population has increased from 9.44% to 22.73%. But the reason for this is not the infiltration of Bangladeshi Muslims, but Muslims from other districts of Jharkhand, Bengal and Bihar, who have come and settled here. The central government has also accepted this fact in the High Court. Some of these Muslims are having land disputes with local tribals, who have bought land from the tribals through informal donation arrangements. These disputes are being publicized by the BJP by giving them the color of tribals versus Bangladeshi infiltrators. It is clear that the Santhal Pargana Tenancy Act has not been strictly followed, which prevents tribal land from going into the hands of non-tribals. The government is responsible for this too.
On visiting the villages of Santhal Pargana where incidents of violence have taken place and which have been highlighted loudly by the BJP, the fact-finding team found that there is no history of communal violence in these villages and whatever land-related disputes have taken place have been between local citizens only. The BJP has done the despicable act of highlighting any dispute with a Muslim as a Bangladeshi intruder. No person from these villages gave any information to the fact-finding team about a single Bangladeshi intruder. Everyone said that they came to know about the infiltration only from social media. *Even the BJP Mandal President living in Taranagar-Ilami told this team that all the Muslims living in his area are residents of that area.
The report states that the fact-finding team has found many examples of tribal women marrying Hindu or Muslim or non-tribal men in the Santhal Pargana region, but all these women have married with their consent and mutual choice. The team did not find a single case in which a tribal woman was married to a Bangladeshi intruder, nor do the local villagers know of any such case. The team found that out of the 10 women whose list was released by Scheduled Tribe Commission member Asha Lakra, 6 women have married local Muslims and three have tribal husbands. This also demolishes the BJP's claim that Bangladeshi intruders are marrying tribal women to grab tribal land, due to which the population of tribals is declining.
Conclusion: The Political Agenda Behind the Claims
The local administration has told the High Court that there are no Bangladeshi infiltrators in the area. The team formed by the Election Commission (which also included BJP members) has also found nothing in its investigation. Despite this, the BJP is continuously spreading communalism and lies in the name of Bangladeshi infiltrators, land jihad, love jihad etc., so it has a very open agenda. And that agenda is : to cross the electoral Vaitarni by creating communal division among Hindus, Muslims and tribals in Jharkhand, creating a rift among them. To make this propaganda credible, the BJP has now engaged former Chief Minister Champai Soren in this work. But the public is understanding everything and the series of defeats of the BJP that started with the Lok Sabha elections is not going to stop in Jharkhand.
*(The author is the State Vice President of Chhattisgarh Kisan Sabha, affiliated to AIKS.)
