Amidst the major political upheaval in Bangladesh which has eventually led to the ousting of democratically elected Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina and large scale violence against the minority Hindu community, incumbent Member of Parliament (MP) Nishikant Dubey has warned about emergence of a similar situation in Bharat.
The BJP lawmaker who represents the Godda Lok Sabha constituency of Jharkhand on Monday, August 12 said that “if the infiltrators are not driven away from Santhal Pargana and halted immediately then possibility of emergence of Bangladesh like situation could not be ruled out. The way Bangladeshi infiltrators have established their dominance in six districts of Santhal along Murshidabad, Malda, Kishanganj, Purnea, Katihar, Kishanganj and Araria is worrisome.
Tribal population has reduced to 26%, our lands (tribal lands) are being encroached, local tribal boys were beaten up in Pakur, Hindus are leaving places like Taranagar, people from the neighboring localities have launched attacks in Gopichak (Gopinathpur), the question is that our conduct, lifestyle are changing, the tribal are in danger as their population is decreasing, said Dubey who is set to visit Pakur district on Tuesday to meet the victims of the recent communal scuffles.
He further disclosed that he will be launching an awareness campaign in Panchayats, villages (reserved for Scheduled Tribes) whose village heads, members of Panchayat Samiti, District Councils are from the ST community. “I will be visiting those Panchayats, villages who has members of tribal community as their village heads, members of Panchayat Samiti and District Councils and whose husband are from the Muslim community.
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For the next five years, I will be visiting and running an awareness campaign in all of those villages who are having Jamai Tola (an area within the village inhabited by those outsiders who have married with a woman of the tribal community, as claimed by many). Our campaign will continue against those who have encroached the land of tribal and converted them, added Dubey who emphasized that he is raising his voice against the Bangladeshi infiltrators since 2009.
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Tug of war over infiltration of Bangladeshi nationals
It is pertinent to mention here that the issue of Bangladeshi infiltration has been at the forefront of political strife between the two major political streams of the state lately i.e. the NDA and the ruling coalition led by Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) where while the former has aggressively linked it to the appeasement policy the latter group has downplayed the allegations as a tool to promote divisive policy in the poll bound state of Jharkhand.
Echoing Dubey’s view on decline in percentage of population of the tribal community in Jharkhand, former Chief Minister and incumbent president of BJP, Babulal Marandi while taking on X said “Hemant Soren’s government is encroaching upon the rights of our tribal brothers and sisters by giving protection to Bangladeshi infiltrators. The government is trying to increase its vote bank by illegally settling Bangladeshi infiltrators and conspiring to make the tribals a minority”.
Though Marandi’s accusations prompted a quick reply by the official handle of the JMM which in turn while refuting the charges, alleged the BJP for failing to stop the infiltrators.
Changing demography in Santhal division
It must be noted that the figures pertaining to respective census between 1951 to 2011 indicates a sharp decline in percentage of tribal community in overall population of Santhal, an administrative division of the state encompassing Deoghar, Godda, Dumka, Jmatara, Sahibaganj and Pakur districts.
Read more at: Discomfort growing in “Santhal” amidst augmenting change in demography……
The figures suggest that the tribal community had a share of 44.67% in the overall population of the Santhal division in the year 1951 which reduced to 28.11 % in the year 2011. However, in the same period the percentage of the Muslim community in population of the Santhal region rose from 9.44% to 22.73%.
The region is suspected to have a large concentration of illegal Bangladeshis infiltrators who have been forcing their way in Jharkhand through bordering districts adjacent to Murshidabad and Malda which are in turn adjacent to Bangladesh border on the other side. Moreover incidents of communal nature have also appeared to be disrupting peace in the region lately as evident during the recent altercations in Pakur districts.
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