Jharkhand Feels The Heat Of BJP's Tried-And-Tested 'Infiltrator' Tactic

바카라�I don바카라�t know where they came from, but they have been here since my grandfather바카라�s time,바카라� says 48-year-old Hopni Marandi, sitting on a cot outside the mud house of her son, Parmeshwar Hembram, on the edge of the disputed plot. 바카라�My grandfather gave them this land so they could keep their horses here. We did not object when they built a house here after my father-in-law died. But when we started building a house on our land adjacent to it, they began protesting. Hence the conflict.바카라� Asked whether the Muslim families residing here are from Bangladesh, Marandi바카라�s statements are clear바카라�they took the land from her grandfather, and the family has lived here for at least generations.

In 1855, this region had seen 바카라�8,000 Santhals armed with bows and arrows and hand axes바카라�, as the district website puts it, take over the mofussil centre of Pakur during the Santhal Hul (uprising) and burn down bungalows of British administrators and the queen바카라�s palace that was symbolic of domination by landlords and moneylenders. The Martello Tower built in 1856 offers a 바카라�panoramic view of the adjoining hills towards the west and the hills of Rajmahal towards the northeast바카라�, enabling the British counterinsurgency to ruthlessly snuff out the indigenous rebels using their superior firepower and putting thousands of Santhals to death.

Gaibthan was calm on the evening of November 3, just as it had been on previous evenings. People were sitting on their verandas and the chowk (open market area), discussing elections. About 300 metres from the chowk is the disputed plot of land over whose ownership the scuffle took place between the families of Hembram and Safaruddin Ansari. Though the BJP has raised the issue of alleged Bangladeshi infiltration in Santhal Pargana for years, it was only ahead of the November election that it was turned into a full-fledged electoral campaign. BJP Jharkhand chief Marandi, who claimed the Muslims of Gaibthan are Bangladeshi infiltrators, provided no evidence. Nearly 120 of the 300 houses in the village belong to Muslim families. Among them is 52-year-old Samajuddin Ansari, who points to a 1932 land record that mentions his great-grandfather, Budhu Momin, and says, 바카라�All the Muslims have been living here for decades. We have land deeds, voter IDs, PAN cards and ration cards from long before Jharkhand was carved out of Bihar. We did not come from Bangladesh.바카라� Ansari claims everyone in the village has such records.

바카라�The villagers (both tribals and Muslims) here are all locals with land records from the last settlement (1932),바카라� says village head Ganesh Murmu, 52. 바카라�Tribals and Muslims always lived here in harmony. Before this incident, there had never been any conflict. Muslims too, attend all village meetings.바카라� Murmu believes harmony has been restored since the incident.

Pakur is one of the five districts of Santhal Pargana바카라�the others are Sahibganj, Dumka, Godda and Jamtara. Though Pakur and Sahibganj seem to have found a special place in the BJP바카라�s plans due to the alleged Bangladeshi infiltration, Pakur Superintendent of Police Prabhat Kumar says 바카라�there is no evidence바카라� of such infiltration. 바카라�Those who claim there are infiltrators should provide evidence. Investigation following the Gaibthan incident showed no evidence of any Bangladeshi in Pakur.바카라�

That didn바카라�t stop the BJP바카라�s Godda MP Nishikant Dubey, however, from claiming in Parliament on July 25 that Bangladeshi infiltrators had married around 100 tribal women leaders in Santhal Pargana and taken their land. Again, no evidence. On July 28, BJP leader and member of the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes, Asha Lakra, alleged that the spouses of 10 tribal women leaders in nine panchayats in Sahibganj district were Bangladeshi infiltrators or Rohingya Muslims. Lakra and Dubey claimed Bangladeshi infiltrators were marrying tribal women to gain influence in panchayats.

In Sahibganj바카라�s Barhet block, where many Muslim men had indeed married tribal women and even helped them run for panchayat posts, there was no evidence suggesting connection to Bangladesh or land grabs. 바카라�It is my constitutional right to choose whom I marry,바카라� says Celina Hansda, head of the Barhet Santhali Utri panchayat, whose husband Mohammad Azad was accused of being a Bangladeshi infiltrator. 바카라�He was asked for papers. He has not just 1932 documents but even 1832 papers. Why did they not investigate when the BJP was in power (2014-19)? They are raising the issue only for the election.바카라�

Kadma panchayat head Ilijens Hansda, 36, who found her husband바카라�s name on the 바카라�infiltrator list바카라�, says, 바카라�Those who say Muslim men are marrying tribal women and grabbing land are lying. I married Zainul Ansari from my village 18 years ago when we did not even know about panchayat posts.바카라� Hansda바카라�s sister, Sheila, who married a Hindu man, was never targeted, she adds.

The list also includes Renuka Murmu, from Barhet Bazar, whose husband Anjit Bhagat is a Hindu member of the BJP. Murmu headed the Sahibganj district council from 2015 to 2020. 바카라�A list circulating in Barhet block mentioned the names of tribal women heads whose husbands were Muslims,바카라� she says. 바카라�I know none of them are Bangladeshi. There are no Bangladeshis in Barhet. Both Hindus and Muslims have married tribal girls here, but never by force.바카라� Bhagat says that instead of creating a divide on religious lines, parties should focus on stopping mass migration caused by economic misery and provide employment.

Benifred Murmu, 62, a panchayat head from Barhet Bazar, also refuted the claim that her husband, Jagarnath Das, a Hindu, is a Bangladeshi infiltrator. 바카라�All the people here are locals,바카라� she says. Yet, the issue of Bangladeshi infiltration has polarised adivasis and Muslims in Santhal Pargana, and Hindus and Muslims in other regions, with other issues taking a back seat. What started as the BJP바카라�s election campaign on Bangladeshi infiltration has now evolved into slogans such as 바카라�Batenge to Katenge (If we split, we will be dead)바카라�.

At every election rally in Jharkhand, Assam CM Sarma has spoken about Bangladeshi infiltration. At one rally, he promised the BJP would rename towns like Hussainabad and Haider Nagar in the Palamu region. His recent remarks, urging Hindus to unite with slogans like 바카라�Hindus will be safe if they stay united, if divided, Irfan Ansari, Alamgir Alam and their people will rule바카라�, have sparked criticism. Alam is a former minister in Jharkhand, and Ansari an incumbent minister in the Hemant Soren government.

Having long claimed that Bangladeshi infiltration has reduced the tribal population in Santhal Pargana, the BJP has promised to implement a National Register of Citizens (NRC) exercise in Jharkhand to deport Bangladeshi infiltrators. However, they have yet to make any such promise in writing or through advertisements. Meanwhile, the Centre바카라�s affidavit in the Jharkhand High Court in response to a public interest litigation did not cite any evidence of infiltration, though it claimed infiltration since 1947 had changed the demographic profile of Santhal Pargana. Between 1991 and 2011, it states, when the Muslim population increased by 13 per cent, it grew by 35 per cent in Sahibganj and Pakur districts, even as the tribal population in Santhal Pargana declined from 44 per cent to 28 per cent between 1951 and 2011.

Siraj Dutta of the Jharkhand Janadhikar Mahasabha believes the issue is being used to create a divide between adivasis and Muslims with the aim of gaining some tribal seats in Santhal Pargana. He claims the BJP is using the issue to target Muslims in the Kolhan region, too. Through Sarma, the party has again revived Hindutva in Jharkhand. A journalist from Assam, who didn바카라�t wish to be identified, says Sarma changed the narrative around Bangladeshi infiltration in Assam. The issue had been raised during decades of Congress rule, with people from all castes and religions demanding the expulsion of illegal immigrants. However, the BJP narrowed this focus to Muslims, making infiltration synonymous with the Muslim community. Sarma played a key role in setting this narrative, which proved successful for the BJP. According to the journalist, Sarma is now trying to bring the same narrative to Santhal Pargana in order to gain political power. With its significant Muslim and Adivasi population, Santhal Pargana is considered a stronghold of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), the largest party in Soren바카라�s ruling coalition.

(Translated by Tarique Anwar)

(This appeared in the print as 'Who Stole The Horses바카라� Land?')