Dumka: Lodged in Dumka prison for the past two years for illegally sneaking into the Bhartiya territory, Bangladeshi infiltrator Najmul Havaldar is all set to be shifted at Hazaribagh based detention centre soon. Najmul is likely to be shifted and kept at the said centre until he received necessary documents required for his deportation to Bangladesh.
A resident of Khulna district of Bangladesh, Najmul was arrested by the authorities from Sahibaganj district in the year 2023. Following Havaldar’s arrest, the district court of Sahibaganj had awarded him with two years of imprisonment for illegally crossing the borders which ended on Thursday, February 27, paving way for his deportation.
The news of Najmul’s release and his subsequent shifting to the detention centre at Hazaribagh however attracted a protest from the members of tribal groups who staged a protest (Akrosh rally) in Dumka on Thursday, demanding Najmul’s immediate deportation from Santhal.
Terming infiltrators a menace for the Santhal society, Chandramohan Hansda, the convener of the Adivasi Sawanta Susaar Akhada said that each infiltrator will be kicked out of Santhal very soon.
He further said that a mega meet of representatives of Santhal society from Odisha, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Assam and Bihar will be organised where a decision about marriages of tribals and non-tribals will be made. He emphasised that the youths of the Santhal society has taken a resolve to drive out the infiltrators from Santhal.
Meanwhile reacting to the protest rally, former Union Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP from Godda constituency Nishikant Dubey on Friday announced that he will be providing a financial help of Rs 1 lakh to each family to setup their household in Santhal.
Training guns on the infiltrators, Dubey in a post on social media platform X said that “In Santhal the Bangladeshis are marrying our girls, raping and killing them. Our population is decreasing and if a married or victim woman/family files a complaint with the police by providing information about Bangladeshis then it will be our responsibility to setup their households and provide them employment.”
The BJP stalwart further announced his campaign for identifying infiltrators in Santhal Pargana stating “our campaign starts today, please cooperate in identifying and driving away Bangladeshis.”
घर गृहस्थी बसाने के लिए प्रत्येक परिवार को कम से कम 1 लाख रुपये का दूँगा आर्थिक सहायता ।संथालपरगना में बंगलादेशी हमारे बच्चियों से शादी कर रहे हैं,बलात्कार कर रहे हैं, हत्या कर रहे हैं । हमारी आबादी घट रही है , यदि शादी शुदा या पीड़ित महिला/ परिवार बंगलादेशी के बारे में जानकारी… pic.twitter.com/ekj4HwBw5Q
— Dr Nishikant Dubey (@nishikant_dubey) February 28, 2025
It is pertinent to mention here that the issue of Bangladeshi infiltration has been at the forefront of political tug of war between the leaders of BJP and the ruling coalition led by Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM).
The issue was also raised aggressively by the leaders of the BJP during the assembly election campaign last year, linking the infiltration issue with the appeasement policy of the JMM led government. However the same was refuted by the JMM leaders who in turn termed the BJP campaign a bid to secure electoral gain.
Notably the percentage of tribal community in overall population of Santhal Pargana, an administrative division of the state encompassing six of the bordering districts has registered a sharp decline over the years.
The census figures suggest that the tribal community had a share of 44.67% in overall population of the Santhal Division in the year 1951, which reduced to 28.11 % in the year 2011, registering a sharp dip. Significantly, the region is suspected to have large concentration of illegal Bangladeshis infiltrators.
