Tribals will be exempted from UCC wherever it is brought: Amit Shah in Jharkhand

Shah accused JMM chief and Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren of creating confusion about UCC. “Today, a misunderstanding is being created by Hemant Soren and company that UCC will abolish the cultural rights of tribals and their laws. Hemant babu, UCC will definitely be introduced in Jharkhand, our government will bring UCC in Jharkhand, but we will keep tribals away from UCC. We will not violate the rights and laws of any Adivasi through UCC.”

Asked about the longstanding demand of tribals to recognise the Sarna religion and include it as a separate code in the next Census, Shah said, “The new government will deliberate on the religious code issue.”

Shah also targeted the Soren government over allegations that tribal land in the state’s Santhal Pargana region was being grabbed by “infiltrators” and announced that the government would “bring a law” to return such land to Adivasis. “Let me tell the infiltrators who have been sitting on land that they grabbed: the BJP government will come and we will bring a law against land grabbing … and will ban it with retrospective effect. The land that has been snatched from women will be returned to them.”

Accusing the JMM-led government of “appeasement politics”, the Home Minister said it did not act even though the High Court took cognizance of the problem posed by “infiltration” in Santhal Pargana. He alleged that “infiltrators” were violating the rights of women in Jharkhand and making them get married for the “second or third time”. The Soren government was allowing this while “sitting silently in the greed of vote bank”, he added.

“The BJP is tasked with picking out infiltrators one by one … Infiltration has not stopped in Bengal and Jharkhand because the local administration is encouraging it … I want to ask Hemant Soren, if one infiltrator is getting to Jharkhand, what is your patwari (village administrator) doing, what is your collector doing? Why is there no complaint to the police? Why has no one complained to the Indian government? Let the BJP form the government here; be it patwari or the CM, we will not only stop all of them, we will also try to deport them… Is there such a CM who hides and imposes the responsibility on the Centre? And you don’t even intend to do anything. When the High Court asks if an attempt is made to stop it, your government said in an affidavit that it won’t stop,” Shah said.

Later, at a rally in Dhalbhumgarh in Ghatshila, Shah reiterated that the tribal population in Jharkhand was declining due to the Soren government treating “Bangladeshi infiltrators as its vote bank”.

“Bangladeshi infiltration is causing a sharp decline in tribal population in Jharkhand, especially in Santhal Parganas and Kolhan regions … the JMM-Congress-RJD alliance is encouraging it for petty political gains,” he said, adding, “Our ‘Mati, Beti, Roti (land, daughter, and bread)’ are under attack. The BJP will not allow this to continue…”

Shah also attacked the JMM-led coalition government for “fuelling Naxalism” and added that the BJP would “eliminate the menace” from the face of the country by March 2026. The Home Minister announced “Operation Suraksha”, promising to end human trafficking in Jharkhand by 2027. Shah said a BJP government would announce CBI and SIT probes into paper leaks in competitive exams in the state and put the culprits behind bars.

The Union Home Minister also promised 27% reservation for Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in Jharkhand without affecting the existing reservation system and said the Assembly elections were crucial to prevent the “corrupt JMM” from misusing funds meant for poor tribals.

The BJP said its manifesto, or Sankalp Patra, was prepared after deliberations with 1.82 lakh people, including 45,000 people who sent in their views on WhatsApp, 28,000 who gave their opinions via QR codes installed at various locations, and 352 social groups.

— With PTI inputs