Peace in the Santhal region, the easternmost administrative division of the state popular for its rich tribal culture has been thwarted by a number of incidents linked to communal disharmony lately raising concern over the changing demography of the bordering territory once strongly dominated by the tribals.
News pertaining to tussle between the members of tribal and Muslim community is now becoming a regular phenomenon leading to growing resentment, protests, episodes of violence, vandalism and arson in separate pockets.
One of the affected districts which has grabbed the headline lately pertaining to communal fissures is Pakud, one among the six districts of the Santhal administrative division believed to be highly infested by the illegal Bangladeshi immigrants.
In the latest episode, an altercation broke out between the two communities after one of the group allegedly launched an assault on the local tribal people over dispute linked to a piece of land on Wednesday, July 18.
The incident unfolded in the Gaybathan Panchayat limits under the jurisdiction of Maheshpur police station limits of Pakud district leading to serious injuries to a number of people. On July 19 a total of 18 people of both the groups have been named in the FIRs registered by the police pertaining to the clash.
The confrontation between the groups in Gaybathan on Wednesday has once again stirred a political row in the already charged up state’s political galleries prompting bitter exchange of words between the leaders of the prime opposition, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the ruling alliance over Bangladeshi infiltrators.
Read more at: Will the “illegal Bangladeshi infiltration” issue dominate the upcoming assembly polls in tribal pockets of Jharkhand?
Reacting to the incident, the BJP leaders while sharing a clip of the incident slammed the incumbent coalition government led by Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) for failing to protect the rights of the tribal community.
Sharing the video on X in which one of the members can be heard threatening the members of the local tribal group that “they will make their lives difficult here,” Leader of Opposition (LoP) in Jharkhand State assembly, Amar Kumar Bouri said “Land Jihad” is going openly under the protection of the Hemant government.
Our poor tribal ancestors shed their blood for the tribal culture, water, forests and land of Jharkhand, though every bit of this place has been handed over to the Muslim Bangladeshi Mafias under the protection of the Babua Chief Minister, he added further.
Other than Bouri, former CM and incumbent state president of the Jharkhand unit of BJP, Babu Lal Marandi also launched a vicious attack on the government over the state of affairs in the Santhal Pargana belt. Listen to this dangerous threat being given to the tribals of Jharkhand by illegal Bangladeshi intruders and anticipate the horrifying future of Jharkhand, said Marandi.
https://twitter.com/yourBabulal/status/1814216204913156511?t=24xge69A5d2Q-ATcAix3gA&s=08
Taking it further, Assam CM and BJP’s state in-charge for Jharkhand in the upcoming state assembly polls, Himanta Bishwa Sarma while training guns on the coalition government said that the same Congress leaders who changed the demography of Assam and Bengal by encouraging infiltrators are now taking Jharkhand on the same path.
Though refuting the allegations of Sarma, JMM general secretary and spokesperson, Vikas Kumar Pandey remarked that if Himanta Biswa Sarma are labelling allegations about the infiltration of Bangladeshi nationals then this question should be asked to Union Home Minister as the security of borders falls under the Union Home Ministry, hence this allegation is not on the JMM but on the Union Home Minister and the central government.
Recent cases leading to communal disharmony
It must be noted that this is not the only time that a confrontation has occurred between the two community in the Pakud district in recent time and earlier a law and order situation also arose after the members of two community clashed with each other in Taranagar Ilami village.
According to the reports, tension escalated between the communities after one of the youth of the Muslim community tried putting a video of one of the girl on the social media triggering reactions from the locals who also assaulted the said youth later on.
However, the assault of the youth for his conduct by one of the groups did not bod well with the other group who later gathered near the village in significant numbers leading to stone pelting between both. The altercation resulted in the injury of as many as three police officials.
https://twitter.com/nishikant_dubey/status/1813937263186710980?t=Q18GcOW9JBGtDSJp5fzlag&s=08
The incident at Taranagar was followed by clashes between the community in Gopinathpur village of Pakud on the occasion of Ed-ul-Azha. The scuffle broke out after a man allegedly slaughtered a cow progeny on a piece of land belonging to the other community following which an enraged mob from Krishtonagar area of the other side of Jharkhand border barged into the house unleashing a reign of terror in the village.
Later on a BJP delegation also paid a visit to the village and interacted with the locals who informed them about the fear of reoccurrence of a similar attack if they dare to visit the local market that is on the other side of the border.
Declining population of the tribal community in Santhal
Notably reports pertaining to the change in demography and declining population of the tribal community due to alleged infiltrations of the Bangladeshi nationals in tribal stronghold of Santhal region has been keep coming to the fore for quite some time.
It’s been alleged that upon infiltration, a number of these intruders enters in matrimonial alliances with the local tribal women with an ulterior motive of converting them and occupying their traditional land. Such is the scenario that a number of “Jamai Tola” have reported be emerged in specific pockets of Santhal, indicating a possible ploy behind the conversion and systematic occupation of the land.
The issue has also been highlighted aggressively by the leaders of the BJP in recent few months who have time and again encircled the incumbent ruling coalition for going soft on the intruders for the sake of vote bank policy.
Recently the BJP president of Jharkhand unit also penned a letter to the CM Hemant Soren seeking formation of a Special Investigating Team (SIT) to find out the reason behind the continuous decline of the population of the tribal community in Santhal.
In his letter, Marandi has highlighted that the tribal accounted for around 45% of the total population in the Santhal region in the year 1947 which has now fallen to around 28%. He further has warned that the Muslim population in the Santhal region is expected to surpass the tribal percentage in the estimated figures of the 2031 census.
Upcoming state assembly elections
Significantly assembly elections are also approaching close in the state where the growing discomfort over the infiltration is expected to play a predominant role in the state assembly election especially in bordering tribal belt of Santhala.
This has come amidst the anticipation of JMM led coalition approaching the assembly elections with the issue of tribal identity at its core of campaign given the ongoing row over cases on incumbent CM, Hemnat Soren by the ED.
However, equipped with the growing resentment over appeasement politics as claimed by its top brass lately, the BJP is also expected to give a tough run to Soren led coalition over issue of tribal identity, preservation of cultural values and alleged corruption in the upcoming polls.
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