{"id":10275,"date":"2024-11-17T12:35:37","date_gmt":"2024-11-17T12:35:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/?p=10275"},"modified":"2024-11-17T12:35:39","modified_gmt":"2024-11-17T12:35:39","slug":"threat-to-roti-mati-beti-how-bjps-bangladeshi-infiltration-bogey-is-playing-out-in-jharkhand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/?p=10275","title":{"rendered":"Threat to Roti, Mati, Beti: How BJP\u2019s Bangladeshi \u2018Infiltration\u2019 Bogey Is Playing Out in Jharkhand"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

While the rhetoric of infiltration has become central to the BJP\u2019s campaign, Santhal Pargana residents who spoke to \u2018The Wire\u2019 labelled it election propaganda.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The muddy waters ran deep, disappearing into a blanket of smog hanging over the Ganga in Jharkhand\u2019s Rajmahal. Men and women, many of whom travelled dozens of kilometres, took a dip in the cold waters on the occasion of Kartik Poornima.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beyond the river lies West Bengal\u2019s Malda, which shares a border with Bangladesh. It is this peripheral assembly constituency that is believed to be the \u201centry point\u201d for Bangladeshi illegal immigrants whom the BJP pejoratively refers to as \u201cinfiltrators\u201d, and has placed them at the centre of its election campaign in Jharkhand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Standing on the banks of the Ganga, Vinod Kumar Verma, who works at a private company, said that the issue of alleged Bangladeshi infiltration is not new in Jharkhand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cForget Rajmahal, this issue has been raised since the formation of Bangladesh itself. Since the formation of the state of Jharkhand in 2000, the BJP has been in power for 17 years,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf this was such a big issue, why didn\u2019t they raise it all this time? Health and education are the big issues that need to be spoken about. If they are so invested in infiltration, then what have they done about it?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Devotees take a dip in the Ganges on Kartik Poornima in Rajmahal. Photo: Sravasti Dasgupta.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

About 150 kilometres away, in Dumka, Union home minister Amit Shah \u2013 who is in charge of India\u2019s border security \u2013 had an answer as he addressed a poll rally in the family bastion of chief minister Hemant Soren and his ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe [Soren] sees his vote bank in these infiltrators,\u201d said Shah<\/a>. \u201cHe asked, \u2018what is the central government doing?\u2019 I have come to answer this as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHemanti ji, have you seen Bangladesh\u2019s border? Thousands of streams, long rivers, many areas where fencing could not be done. And that is why these infiltrators walk into villages. But  does the local administration not know about it? Who makes their ration card? Who includes them in the voter list? Who lets them marry our daughters? The Jharkhand government is doing this and on your direction.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The list<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

About 100 kilometres from Dumka, in Sahibganj district\u2019s Barhait, where Soren is seeking re-election, Elijence Hansda, mukhiya<\/em> of the Kadma panchayat, found out that her name was part of a list of Adivasi women mukhiyas who had allegedly married \u201cBangladeshi Muslim infiltrators\u201d as a part of a \u201cconspiracy\u201d when it was circulated on WhatsApp.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey had spelt my name wrong and even got my husband\u2019s surname wrong. They named me \u2018Angeline Hansda\u2019 and called my husband \u2018Jainul Sheikh\u2019. His name is Jaimul Ansari \u2013 there are no Sheikhs in this village. But they meant me, everybody knew it was me because I am the mukhiya of this village,\u201d she said when The Wire <\/em>met her on Friday (November 15).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Hansda pointed out that the constitution allows her to marry a person of her choice. Photo: Sravasti Dasgupta.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hansda, along with other Adivasi elected representatives in Sahibganj district who have married Muslims, are being cited by the BJP as examples of a \u201cconspiracy\u201d in which Bangladeshi illegal immigrants are marrying Adivasi women to take over their land, build families and usurp power in local governments in the Adivasi-dominated Santhal Pargana, resulting in a demographic change in Jharkhand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Furthering their campaign of Jharkhand\u2019s \u201croti, mati, beti\u201d<\/em> being under threat is a list being circulated on WhatsApp by the BJP titled \u201cYe hai shariyantra<\/em>\u201d (This is a conspiracy), that The Wire <\/em>has seen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It names nine elected Adivasi representatives in panchayats and zilla parishads in Sahibganj district who have married Muslims. Scroll<\/em> has earlier reported<\/a> how most of the claims in the list are wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hansda said to The Wire <\/em>that she met her husband when she was tutoring children to earn more money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI wanted to study further, get a job. Do something of my own. My husband was my brother\u2019s friend. He saw my struggles and wanted to help me, but I made it clear that we could only take anything further if he married me. So we got married. Besides, the constitution allows people to marry whoever they want.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not just Hansda, but Monika Kisku, chairperson of the Sahibganj zilla parishad, also found her name featured in the list. When The Wire <\/em>went to meet her, she asked why other Adivasis who have married outside the community are not being named.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere are many Adivasi women who have married Hindus. Why are their names not being circulated? The district commissioner has given an affidavit to state there has been no infiltration. But if there is, as they are claiming, why aren\u2019t they finding the infiltrators? If an Adivasi woman becomes an elected representative, she will work for everyone. Not just for Adivasis and Muslims. They should focus on bettering people\u2019s lives instead of making people fight with each other,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The infiltration bogey<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scheduled Tribes (STs) and Muslims at 26.2% and 14.5% respectively form about 41% of Jharkhand\u2019s population. The spectre of infiltration is not just being raised in an attempt to divide the two groups that are known to have similar voting patterns, but to also woo the Hindu and non-Adivasi population in the state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the Adivasi-dominated Santhal Pargana, the BJP won only four of the 18 seats in 2019. Of the total 28 ST seats in the state, the BJP won only two that year, down from 11 in 2014. In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections earlier this year, it lost all five tribal constituencies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A month after the Lok Sabha election results were announced, BJP MP Nishikant Dubey from Godda first made the claim in parliament that women like Hansda, who were elected representatives, were marrying Muslims.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking in the Lok Sabha in July, Dubey called for a National Register of Citizens in Jharkhand and said that the tribal population in the state had decreased by 10%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Vinod Kumar Verma (left), standing on the banks of the Ganga in Rajmahal, wondered why the BJP did not raise the \u2018infiltration\u2019 issue all this while if it was so invested in it. Photo: Sravasti Dasgupta.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Indian Express<\/em><\/a> has reported that when the first census was conducted in independent India in 1951, STs comprised 35.8% of Jharkhand, which was then a part of Bihar. As per the 1991 census \u2013 the last before the state was carved out of Bihar \u2013 the tribal population in the state stood at 27.66%. According to the 2001 census, ST population in Jharkhand was recorded at 26.3% and in the last census in 2011, it was at 26.2%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A major factor behind Jharkhand\u2019s demographic change and decrease in the Adivasi population is out-migration, the Express<\/em>\u2019s report said. It noted that the state had an out-state migration rate of 18.66%, while the neighbouring states of Odisha and Chhattisgarh had much lower rates at 8.07% and 8.41% respectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A fact-finding report<\/a> by the Jharkhand Janadhikar Mahasabha that looked into cases of alleged violence by Bangladeshi infiltrators in villages in Pakur and Sahibganj found that all cases were local disputes in villages and communities. It added that while the issue of the declining Adivasi population was serious, it was primarily attributable to \u201cinadequate nutrition, insufficient healthcare [and] economic hardship.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn Santhal Pargana region, Muslims and Hindus from Jharkhand, Bengal and Bihar have migrated and purchased land from Adivasis and settled down. Adivasis across the state, including in Santhal Pargana, have been forced to migrate in large numbers for decades, which directly affects their population growth rate,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ignoring all these factors, Dubey in his Lok Sabha speech squarely alleged that Adivasi women were marrying Bangladeshi men, resulting in a demographic change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTribal women are getting married to Bangladeshi men. It is not a question of Hindu-Muslim. A woman who contested a tribal-quota seat in the Lok Sabha polls is married to a Muslim man. A zilla parishad administrator\u2019s husband is also Muslim,\u201d he said<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Such claims are also part of a report authored by BJP leader and National Commission for Scheduled Tribes member Asha Lakra \u201cconfirming Bangladeshi infiltration\u201d<\/a> in Santhal Pargana, which has since been submitted to the Union home ministry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A JMM bike rally in Udhwa, located between Pakur and Rajmahal. Photo: Sravasti Dasgupta.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rhetoric of infiltration has become central to the BJP\u2019s campaign in Jharkhand and has been reiterated in campaign rallies by the party\u2019s Jharkhand co-incharge and Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma<\/a>, as well as by other top brass, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In its manifesto for the state elections, the party has centred<\/a> its promises around tribals. It has promised the return of tribal land allegedly occupied by \u201cinfiltrators\u201d and no tribal status to children of alleged \u201cinfiltrators\u201d who have married tribal people, among other things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the centre of the BJP\u2019s allegations is an allusion to the Santhal Pargana Tenancy Act, which does not allow the transfer of Adivasi land to non-Adivasis. But matters of inheritance are governed by customary laws among Adivasis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to activist Priyasheela Besra, who had accompanied us to Hansda and Kisku\u2019s houses and is an Adivasi herself, women in the community do not even have inheritance rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWomen don\u2019t have inheritance rights to their father\u2019s land. If there is no male heir, they tend to give their property to other male members, but never their daughters. It is not that Adivasis are not giving out their land or selling them because it is prohibited either,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey sell them in the form of a daan patra <\/em>or gift, which is then made into an affidavit and shown in court. But since it is a gift, the sale amount is never mentioned and Adivasis are often robbed off their true price of their land by middlemen. Besides, it is not just that they are only selling their land to Muslims; they sell their land to Hindus as well. But no one is talking about that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Don\u2019t know of anyone\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back in Rajmahal, Sulekha Devi, who lives about ten kilometres away from the Ganga ghat, said that she had not heard of any Bangladeshis living in the area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI know people in the next ten villages. There are no Bangladeshis here. At least I have not heard anything about it. Whoever lives here has been living here for generations. If there is a Hindu house, the next house is Muslim. We speak many languages including Bangla. But we are not Bangladeshis. Everyone lives peacefully here together,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Sulekha Devi said she did not know of any Bangladeshi infiltrators living in her area. Photo: Sravasti Dasgupta.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Rajmahal, where the BJP is looking to retain its seat, lanes are dotted with flags of both the saffron party and the JMM.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When asked if he had heard of any infiltration occurring in the area, Inder Kumar, who works in the market opposite the Rajmahal railway station, said that while he had not heard of such a thing, \u201cit must be happening\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey must be coming from Bangladesh from Bengal and Bihar. They get married and settle here,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

About 60 kilometres away in Pakur\u2019s Hiranpur, Anil Kumar, who owns a transport business, said that the issue of infiltration, even if it exists, needs to be addressed by the government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cChunavi hawa banaya ja raha hai,<\/em>\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn our population of about four lakh, maybe there are 200 or even 500. But it cannot be that out of four lakh, two lakh are infiltrators. This issue has just come up in the last few months. Have all these people suddenly come and made Aadhaar cards and voter cards in just a few months? We have heard that the Muslim population has increased near the borders, but the government has to identify them. These are not election issues,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Infiltration biggest issue\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile in Rajmahal, the BJP is driving its campaign around \u201cinfiltration\u201d, projecting it as the biggest issue in this election. It was Rajmahal MLA Anant Kumar Ojha, who is now seeking a straight third term, who first raised the issue in his constituency in the state assembly in February 2023<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe issue of Bangladeshi infiltration started from Rajmahal. Our MLA raised it in the assembly first and now we are very happy that the top leadership, including the Union home minister, are taking it up,\u201d  said Ramanand Shah, the Sahibganj nagar panchayat\u2019s deputy chairman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA family which had 11 voters in 2014 suddenly has 19 voters in 2019 and 44 voters in 2024. So how is this happening if not for infiltration? We have taken this issue to the Election Commission as well. It is the single biggest issue in the election in Rajmahal.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In neighbouring Pakur, Vikas Dubey, a business owner who is campaigning for BJP\u2019s ally All Jharkhand Students\u2019 Union candidate Azhar Islam, explained how infiltration was gaining ground in Pakur, Rajmahal and other areas near the banks of the Ganga that share borders with West Bengal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey [Bangladeshis] have relatives who live here. First they come and start living with them, then they start fights. A police case is lodged through which they get some form of an identity document and then use that to make Aadhaar cards and voter ID cards. This is how voter numbers are increasing in the lakhs,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When asked about how Jharkhand, a state that does not share any border with Bangladesh, can become prone to infiltration, Dubey said that the fault lay in neighbouring West Bengal and its Muslim-majority areas of Malda and Murshidabad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhy have our [the BJP\u2019s] MPs been winning in Malda and Murshidabad? Because the infiltration issue is also huge there and even Muslims have realised it and are voting on it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Union government in an affidavit informed the Jharkhand high court that \u201cinfiltration has been assessed to have taken place\u201d \u2013 a claim that has been challenged by the Jharkhand government, which said it is not backed by data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A petition by the Jharkhand government challenging the formation of a fact-finding committee to look into allegations of illegal immigration is now in the Supreme Court<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back in Barhait, Shamshul Ansari, who is the husband of Sunita Tudu, the mukhiya of Barhait\u2019s Gopaldih village, said that the whole exercise was aimed at breaking Adivasi-muslim unity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tudu is also part of the list naming Adivasi elected representatives who have married Muslims.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese areas are JMM strongholds. They are trying to break Muslim-adivasi unity because they know that in these areas, the two communities vote together,\u201d Ansari said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reference Link:- https:\/\/thewire.in\/politics\/threat-roti-mati-beti-bjp-bangladesh-infiltration-bogey-jharkhand<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While the rhetoric of infiltration has become central to the BJP\u2019s campaign, Santhal Pargana residents who spoke to \u2018The Wire\u2019 labelled it election propaganda. The muddy waters ran deep, disappearing into a blanket of smog hanging over the Ganga in Jharkhand\u2019s Rajmahal. Men and women, many of whom travelled dozens of kilometres, took a dip […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10281,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[6107,6071,2958,39,6106,6105,265,1295,36,60],"class_list":["post-10275","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sample-category","tag-conspiracies","tag-fanatic-modi","tag-hate","tag-india","tag-insurgencies","tag-internal-unrest","tag-modi","tag-modis-extremist-policies","tag-pakistan","tag-geopolitics"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10275","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10275"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10275\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10282,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10275\/revisions\/10282"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}