“Jharkhand Mukti Morcha has become Jharkhand Muslim Morcha”: Nishikant Dubey

Jharkhand has been in news for all wrong reasons. The Islamists mercilessly killed two Hindu girls in the last week, and Chief Minister Hemant Soren said there was nothing unusual about it as such crimes keep happening. In an exclusive interview with Organiser National News Coordinator Nishant Kumar Azad, BJP Jharkhand leader and three-time MP Nishikant Dubey spoke on a range of issues, from CBI-ED raid on Opposition leaders to demographic change in the State to conversion of tribals. Excerpts:

On the day when you visited Dumka to meet Ankita’s family, demanding justice as well as giving financial assistance, the same day an FIR has registered against you and Manoj Tiwari for entering the Air Traffic Control tower at Deoghar airport to forcibly obtain take-off clearance for a chartered plane. What exactly did happen?

In 2009, when I contested the election for the first time, there was not even a single case pending against me except one related to the election code of conduct, but after March 2020, there are 37 cases against me. The authority has not only filed a case against me but also against my wife and my 18 and 19-year-old children who study abroad. But I do not care about it; even 3037 cases will not stop me from doing my work.

Mohammad Shahrukh Hussain had torched Ankita alive by pouring petrol on her. A few days later, a tribal girl was hanged from a tree after being raped. Although Dumka has been the family turf of the Soren family, no one cared to take note of the repeated crimes or visit the aggrieved families.

All limits were crossed when the Chief Minister himself debunked all these incidents of heinous crimes as the usual stuff that keeps happening everywhere. When other BJP leaders and I visited Dumka in heavy rain, 15,000 people gathered to support us. They were there seeking justice for Ankita. We provide assistance of Rs 28 lakh. This has rattled Hemant Soren, hence the FIR against us.

“In Bhoganandi, the birthplace of great tribal freedom fighters Sidho and Kanho Murmu, now has more than 50% Muslim population. Pakur District has almost 65%. Udhwa town of Sahibganj, which shares its border with Bangladesh, has 90% of the population. Godda, Basantrai, and Margomunda have more than 50% Muslims. Narayanpur of Jamtara District has more than 70% Muslims; the State is on the verge of becoming an Islamic State”

As per information I’ve received, Arman Ansari, the man who raped and killed the 14-year-old tribal girl, is a Bangladeshi national. That is why Jharkhand Police is not disclosing his identity. The Hemant Soren Government has launched a campaign against me as BJP is continuously raising the issue of Bangladeshi infiltrators, grooming gangs in which Bangladeshi Muslim boys target and exploit underage Dalit and tribal girls, tribal issues and exposing Soren for his corruption and illegal work.

The two incidents have shaken the conscience of the nation. In both cases, the accused is a Muslim. Do you think the Government has lost control over the law-and-order situation in the State?

The Government has never been in control of the law-and-order situation. His only focus is on making money through illegal means, whether mining, alcohol, or transfer-posting. Each posting has a rate card, whether of DC, SP, mining officer or all other officers. Hemant Soren’s sister-in-law Sita Soren, an MLA from Jama, Dumka, has alleged this on various platforms. The Government doesn’t care about rapes, murders and religious conversions in the State. Jharkhand Mukti Morcha has become Jharkhand Muslim Morcha.

In Bhoganandi, the birthplace of great tribal freedom fighters Sidho and Kanho Murmu from where the Hul Kranti started, now has more than 50 per cent Muslim population. When Jharkhand was carved out from Bihar in 2000, Pakur District had 35-37 per cent of Muslims; now it has almost 65 per cent. Udhwa town of Sahibganj, which shares its border with Bangladesh, has 90 per cent of the population. Godda, Basantrai, and Margomunda have more than 50 per cent Muslims. Narayanpur of Jamtara District, the hub of cyber-crime, has more than 70 per cent Muslims; the State is on the verge of becoming an Islamic State.

Much before Ankita’s murder, Shahrukh Hussain was arrested for torturing her; Dumka’s DSP Noor Mustafa knew about this but remained nonchalant.

Whether it is Shahrukh, Naeem, Arman, or Amanat, all have direct or indirect links with PFI and ISI. Some of them are Bangladeshis, and Noor Mustafa backs them. Hemant Soren is the Chief Minister of the State, but Noor Mustafa is the Chief Minister of Dumka. He collects funds through illegal means for Hemant Soren and his family, which is why the Government backs him.

Recently, about 50 Mahadalit (Musahar) families were allegedly driven out, where they had been living for more than 30 years, by Muslims in the Palamu District. Surprisingly, the police failed to take any action against the perpetrators.

Whatever happened with the 50 families in Palamu is reprehensible. The police did not take action because they acted hand-in-glove with the Islamists. The Government is with PFI, ISI and Bangladeshi infiltrators and backs them in their illegal works.

More than 1800 schools in Jharkhand have renamed their names to Urdu-sounding words. They have declared Friday as their weekly off instead of Sunday. The prayers offered at those schools are in the Urdu language. The situation is the same in Pakur and Sahibganj. All these wrong deeds, whether conversion, murders or demographic change, are backed by the Soren Government. This Government has no concern for Dalits, tribals, the poor and the deprived; their only concern is extracting money through illegal means, personal luxury and comfort.

You have been continuously raising your voice against the Bangladeshi infiltration. Even former Chief Minister Raghubar Das has stated that more than 1000 acres of land has been illegally encroached by the Muslims.

No outsider can buy land there because there is the Santhal Paragna Tenancy Act in Santhal Pragna Division. So, how did the Muslims get this much land in this area? There is a pattern to this. The illegal migrant Muslims lure tribal girls, and after getting married to them as per inheritance, they occupy the land.

So, when I raised this issue in Parliament, Home Minister Amit Shah asked the DGPs and Chief Secretaries of Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal to keep a watchful eye on the demography changes in the border areas. This had flurried the Soren Government that if the Central Government came to know about all this & their illegal activities and asked NIA to conduct an investigation, their agendas would be bust.

Hemant Soren and other opposition parties allege that BJP is misusing CBI and ED to overthrow the State Governments. How do you see this allegation?

If someone has really misused CBI, ED and Income Tax, it is Congress. It is not PM Modi or the BJP Government who is misusing them. SIT, fake cases by CBI and whatnot against Narendra Modi and Amit Shah. Even Amit Shah was sent to jail. When everyone believed that Sohrabuddin was a terrorist and killed in an encounter, Congress and others were working to prove that it was a fake encounter and that Sohrabbudin was not a terrorist.

Nitish Kumar left RJD in 2017 and joined us. Now, he left us and again went back to the RJD fold. Has Nitish ji joined BJP due to the fear of CBI and ED? Their only agenda is to sully the image of PM Modi.

We got roads in areas like Godda district in the 75th year of Independence. Deoghar has an AIIMS and an airport. All these great works in such backward areas are only possible under the leadership of PM Modi, and the Opposition wants to stall these development works.

If PM Modi and BJP open their doors, no other political party will be left in India; they all will join BJP because they know if one person can lead and make India develop, it is PM Modi. It is the same as all other parties supported Congress during the freedom struggle.

You said that if BJP opens its door, everyone will join it. The party has always boasted of a strong ideology and a committed cadre base. When you allow anyone and everyone to join it, don’t you think it will lead to the dilution of its ideology? Also, those who defect their party to join yours can very well do the same when you are out of power.

After 1947, all Governments except that of the BJP did Muslim appeasement politics. We have to study this in two phases, one in 1906 when the Muslim league was formed, second in 1947 at the time of Partition. Everyone should read the history of these 41 years, how the Muslim League was formed, and how it worked. The same situation continued from 1967 except for Atal ji’s Government’s six years. To get rid of the politics of Muslim appeasement backed by PFI and ISI, we need a ‘Jan Andolan’, and anyone who wants to join this Jan Andolan is welcome in BJP.

It’s not that we are accepting anyone and everyone to our party. We derive our ideology from our parent organisation Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), and we trust them. And the leadership will be in their hands—no matter who joins the party.

Conversion is a major issue in Jharkhand, especially in the tribal areas. What is BJP doing to stop the conversions?

Jharkhand is fast becoming an Islamic State. To stop conversions, we have to stop Bangladeshi infiltration. The people who ran Pathalgarhi Movement during our Government and were against us are now supporting us to fight conversion. The children of Hindu tribals and the tribals who converted to Christianity are marrying Muslims. After getting married to them, their children naturally will be Muslim. The kid will not be tribal or Christian. The tribals must consider this and join us in stopping the conversion campaign, as it is a big threat.

Hemant Soren has repeatedly said, “Tribals are not Hindus”. His Government even passed a resolution in the assembly, ‘Sarna Adivasi Resolution’ on this. What is your opinion on this?

Hemant Soren is unaware of our history. Sarna is a Hindu ritualistic tradition, and every tribal practices this. No tribal goes to Masjid and reads Namaz. No tribal goes to Church, Gurudwara, etc. All tribals worship Hindu gods. In Basukinath temple, the pandas are tribals. I want to say it clearly that tribals are Hindus and Sanatani. Bhagwan Birsa Munda, Sidho-Kanho, Chand Bhairav and Tilka Manjhi laid down their lives for Sanatan Dharma and Hindu temples. In 1773, Tilka Manji, who was from Bhagalpur, during the freedom struggle, fought for the Hindu temple in Tilakpur and rebelled against Christian missionaries who were trying to encroach upon our temples.

Even the tribals who converted to Christianity go to Hindu temples.

Why does Hemant Soren always target you? Will this Government complete its term?

He targets me because I do politics in Santhal Paragna and work for the betterment of people. He hasn’t done anything in his constituency and in the State while I keep doing good work with the help of the Union Government. So, he files cases against me so as to keep me caught up in them and unable to do public service. I don’t care about these cases.

Only time will tell whether the Soren Government will complete its tenure. But it should not complete the term (for the sake of the people).