The Jharkhand High Court on Wednesday, July 3 issued directives to the state and union governments to make an action plan to identify and deport illegal Bangladeshi infiltrators from tribal-dominated Santhal division of the state.
Hearing on a petition filed by Daniel Danish, a bench of justices Sujit Narayan Prasad and AK Rai instructed the government to provide a progress report on the matter under two weeks and specify the numbers of infiltrators stopped and deported back.
The plea filed by the petitioner has highlighted about the sudden increase of Madrasas in Santhal Pargana, an administrative division of the state encompassing Godda, Sahibganj, Pakur, Deoghar, Jamtara and Dumka districts.
The petitioner in his plea has claimed that the intruders are exploiting the local females of the Scheduled Tribes (ST) community as well as occupying their lands through means of conversion and marriages which needs to be stopped. The plea also pointed out about the possible planned involvement of certain banned Bangladeshi groups behind the surge in such cases.
The court further instructed the deputy commissioners of all the district under the Santhal division to prepare an action plan and take steps to stop illegal Bangladeshi intruders from entering the state. It further has directed the chief secretary of the state to intervene and coordinate with the deputy commissioners on the matter as well.
The justices during the hearing also sought a response from the union government citing that the matter is a grave one and it cannot be handled by the state government alone to which the Centre informed that the incumbent Union government has already granted permission to the state governments to detect and act against the infiltrators.
Earlier the petitioner informed the bench that the state government is denying intrusion and even fail to acknowledge cases of conversion in the Santhal division.
Changing demography in Santhal Pargana region
It must be noted that reports pertaining to illegal intrusion of Bangladeshi infiltrators and changing demography have been keep coming to the fore from the bordering region of Santhal which has a significant populations of tribal community (Around 26 per cent as per the 2011 census).
The same has been also highlighted time and again by the senior leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the principal opposition in the state. Recently in a post shared on X, former Chief Minister of the state and incumbent president of BJP’s Jharkhand unit, Babulal Marandi had also expressed concern over the changing demography in the Santhal region.
The continuous decline in the tribal population and the unexpected increase in the Muslim population in the Santhal Pargana region is a warning signal, said Marandi while highlighting that the tribal population of the Pakur district of Santhal declined by 4% between 2001 and 2011 alone.
संथाल परगना क्षेत्र में आदिवासियों की जनसंख्या निरंतर घटना एवं मुसलमानों की जनसंख्या में अप्रत्याशित वृद्धि खतरे की घंटी है।
2001 की जनगणना के दौरान संथाल परगना के पाकुड़ जिले में आदिवासियों की आबादी 46% थी, जो 2011 की जनगणना के अनुसार 4% घटकर महज 42% रह गई।
वहीं मुसलमानों की… pic.twitter.com/68wss79X49
— Babulal Marandi (@yourBabulal) June 30, 2024
He further highlighted that the Muslim population of the district witnessed a jump of 3% in the same time period. Marandi further asserted that it is imperative to review the reasons for unnatural change in the demography of Pakur and other districts such as Sahibganj adjacent to the border.
He also had demanded that a Special Task Force should be formed to investigate the matter and serious steps should be taken to protect the “Jal Jungle Zameen” which is identical to the tribal community.
Meanwhile reacting to the court’s order the LoP in the Jharkhand state assembly, Amar Kumar Bauri also asserted that large scale infiltration of Bangladeshis is happening in the state. “The court showed the mirror to the anti-majority Jharkhand Mukti Morcha-Congress-Rashtriya Janata Dal government which is engaged in setting new dimension of appeasement every day,” quoted Bauri
झारखंड की सत्ता के मद में चूर रोजाना तुष्टीकरण के नए आयाम स्थापित करने में लगी हुई बहुसंख्यक विरोधी झामुमो-कांग्रेस-राजद सरकार को कोर्ट ने दिखाया आईना !
राज्य में बड़े पैमाने पर बांग्लादेशी घुसपैठ हो रही है। वोट बैंक और तुष्टिकरण की राजनीति के कारण सरकार चुप्पी साधे हुए है। यह… pic.twitter.com/ahBPsLub3I
— Amar Kumar Bauri (@amarbauri) July 4, 2024
Large scale infiltration is taking place in the state and the government is maintaining silence due to appeasement politics. It is not only changing the demography of the state but also destroying its culture, he added.
It must be noted that assembly elections are set to take place in the state in latter half of the year where the issue of demographic change in the Santhal division along with the allegations of corruption as labelled by the BJP in all likelihood are expected to take the central stage
Notably, the JMM led coalition while banking on the tribal sentiment has performed exceptionally well on the tribal dominated seats of the state in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections and the party will be hoping to repeat its performance in the state assembly elections as well where the BJP is expected to go all guns blazing on issues such as infiltration and corruption.
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