In Jharkhand, NRC returns to BJP agenda, talks of ‘demographic changes’ in tribal areas

On June 22, visiting BJP national president J P Nadda also raised the issue of infiltrators, telling a gathering in Giridih: “Bangladeshi infiltrators, Rohingya are exploiting our tribal daughters and sisters in Santhal Pargana, and all this is happening under the patronage of the government.”

He referred to the case of Rebeka Paharin, killed allegedly by her partner Dildar Ansari in December last year, as an example.

Earlier, on many occasions, BJP Godda MP Nishikant Dubey, known for his controversial remarks, has made similar allegations, claiming that “grooming gangs” of “Bangladeshi Muslim” boys were “exploiting” underage girls from Dalits and tribal communities in the state. He has also been known to refer to the ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) as the Jharkhand Muslim Morcha party.

Three months after the JMM-Congress-RJD coalition came to power in Jharkhand in December 2019, it had passed a resolution in the Assembly not to implement the NRC.

So far, the BJP has been trying to corner JMM leader and Chief Minister Hemant Soren on issues such as corruption and law and order. But this is increasingly shifting to allegations of “rising Bangladeshi infiltrators” and “appeasement politics”.

BJP spokesperson Pratul Shahdeo told The Indian Express: “There is clear infiltration of people from Bangladesh, who come to districts like Pakur and Sahibganj and get local identity cards made. Then they exploit tribal women and marry them. Now they use tribal wives to get into the political system. There are dozens of examples, but we are not naming them as it will malign the names of tribal women. In addition, they are also cornering schemes meant for ‘Bhumi Putra (sons of the soil)’ Muslims.”

In the 2019 Assembly elections, the JMM-led alliance had won all the four seats reserved for tribals in Sahibganj and Pakur (where tribals comprise around 33% and 42% of the population, respectively), and one of the two general seats. The BJP had won only one seat.

The BJP, in fact, had won only two of the 28 seats reserved for tribals across the state in 2019. Overall, the JMM had won 30 seats, the Congress 16 and the RJD 1. The BJP had won 25 seats.

Since then, the BJP has taken several measures to win back the tribals, including inducting Babulal Marandi back into the party. In 2022, the BJP-led government at the Centre named former Jharkhand governor Droupadi Murmu as President, the first tribal to hold the post. She belongs to the Santhali community, which has big numbers in Jharkhand, apart from in Chhattisgarh, parts of West Bengal and in Odisha.

The Congress’s Ranchi district president, Kumar Raja, said when the BJP was left with nothing, it always turned to polarisation. “The BJP is raising the pitch across the country on irrelevant issues. If at all the BJP has facts about infiltrators, why did it not bring any legislation while it was in power? The state has been mostly under BJP rule for its 18 years, including what it calls its ‘double-engine government’.”

Sources in the government say there is no official data available on Bangladeshi infiltration.

However, while BJP leaders might have started raising the NRC issue, leaders advise caution regarding how the argument is put forward. A source said that while “infiltration is an issue and appeasement politics is happening”, the party has to remember that “last time we were rejected in Jharkhand”.

Plus, tribal sensitivities can often be at odds with the BJP’s own muscular Hindutva politics. For example, the party’s central leadership seems to be testing the waters for a Uniform Civil Code (UCC). On Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi argued for a UCC at a BJP meeting.

An umbrella organisation of tribal groups in Jharkhand — the Adivasi Samanwaya Samiti — has called a meeting of 15 groups to talk about the recent Law Commission notice seeking views on a UCC.

Prem Sahi Munda, the president of the Adivasi Jan Parishad, one of the groups attending, told The Indian Express: “The Adivasis have a traditional system of dealing with various issues. For example, in case of a divorce, members of communities sit together and decide. Such small systems of our tradition will vanish after the implementation of a UCC. We will definitely give our opinion to the Law Commission, and if a code is still implemented, we will hold nationwide protests and make it an election issue.”

Asked whether infiltration from Bangladesh was a concern for tribal communities, he said: “If at all there is infiltration happening, why is the Home Ministry not acting on it?”