BJP will prepare NRC in Jharkhand if it comes to power: Shivraj Singh Chouhan

“This election is not just one that is meant for bringing a party to power or naming someone chief minister. This is an election to save Jharkhand. To save beti (daughters), maati (soil) and roti (food) is our resolve,” the BJP’s Jharkhand elections in-charge added.

The NRC contains names of Indian citizens. The only time it was prepared was in 1951, though Assam made an updated NRC in August 2019.

Chouhan said the demography of Jharkhand was changing because of illegal immigration from Bangladesh. “The Adivasi population in Santhal Pargana has come down from 44 per cent to 28 per cent,” he said, adding that the illegal immigration affected the Hindu population also.

Chouhan said the Hemant Soren government was giving refuge to illegal immigrants for carving out a vote bank. “Aadhaar cards and ration cards of infiltrators are being made. This is a grave danger for the country,” he said.

With apprehensions that tribals may have turned against the BJP because Soren spent five months in jail before he was released on bail, the BJP has sought to reach out to tribals in the state by claiming to protect their lands from illegal Bangladeshi immigrants, thus introducing a core Hindutva concern as an election pitch in the state.

Obliquely raising the bogey of “love jihad”, another common theme in the political discourse of the BJP and the RSS, Chouhan said the illegal immigrants were “trapping Adivasi daughters”, marrying them and acquiring their land. He claimed that some girls had been killed and chopped to pieces.

“Those who were born in India are all ours. But people come from another country, start living here, and governments protect them for vote bank,” Chouhan said.

The Union minister said the immigration was also damaging prospects of employment in the state.