Ranchi
The Jharkhand High Court has in a significant ruling directed the State government to carry out an identification exercise of illegal infiltrators in Santhal Pargana through its Special Branch of the police department.
It also directed the authorities concerned to issue identify proofs such as PDS ration cards, UID Aadhaar Cards and Voter Cards after proper verification of land records and residential credentials of the individuals.
The bench further issued notices to the Director of the Intelligence Bureau (IB), Director General of Border Security Force (BSF), Director General of Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) and Chief Election Commission of India (ECI) seeking a response from them into the matter.
A division bench of the Jharkhand High Court comprising Acting Chief Justice S.N.Prasad and A.K. Rai passed this order. Earlier, the High Court, through a verbal observation had expressed strong reservations against the indifferent attitude of the state government and Central authorities.
The court was hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) addressing concerns about alleged illegal immigration from Bangladesh into the Santhal Pargana region. The PIL claimed that the infiltration issue is significant in Santhal Pargana’s six districts namely Godda, Jamtara, Pakur, Dumka, Sahibganj, and Deoghar and that the infiltrators were primarily from Bangladesh.
“The Scheduled Tribes population in Santhal Pargana has slipped down to 28.11 percent from 44.7 percent. And, the Muslim population has, shot up to 22.73 percent from 9.44 percent – considering 1951 and 2011 Census Reports,” the petition maintains. The next hearing of this case will be on August 22.
The influx of Bangladeshi infiltrators in the Santhal Pargana region has been the centrestage of the BJP’s agenda and attack against the Hemant Soren government in Jharkhand.
If senior BJP leader and Union Home Minister Amit Shah alleged that there was “love jihad” and “land jihad” happening in Jharkhand under a tribal Chief Minister and this was changing the State’s demography, then Assam Chief Minister and BJP’s co-incharge in Jharkhand Himanta Biswa Sarma demanded a white paper on the changing demography.
State BJP president Babulal Marandi and Godda MP Nishikant Dubey have also been raising the infiltration issue.
The BJP alleges that a large number of Bangladeshi infiltrators have settled in the Santhal Pargana region, bordering West Bengal, after duping the poor Adivasi girls in wedlock. They have not only grabbed tribal land but also secured various official documents to prove themselves Indian nationals, even as religious conversions of tribal girls go unabated.
Last month, National Commission of Scheduled Tribes (NCST) member Asha Lakra led a team to Santhal Pargana. She said the demographic change happening in the region was alarming and cited examples of how Muslim men were marrying tribal girls and holding reins of power in panchayats by getting their wives elected on reserved seats. She claimed there has already been a demographic change of 25-30 percent in the region.
The JMM-led INDI alliance has been countering the BJP offensive both by putting the ball in the Centre’s court asserting it was the Union Government’s responsibility to stop infiltration from international border and also terming it a bid to create a divide in the society.
The responsibility of border security lies only with the world’s only Chanakya, the Home Minister of India, Chief Minister Hemant Soren had quipped. Himanta countered it saying it would have been the Centre’s responsibility had the intruders not been already inside.
The verbal duel on the issue had already gained momentum, it is only set to intensify with each passing day as the Assembly elections get nearer given that as many as 28 seats are reserved for the STs in the Jharkhand Assembly.
