Land jihad? Centre counters claims of Bangladeshi infiltration in Santhal Pargana

By A Representative
In an affidavit submitted to the Jharkhand High Court on September 12, 2024, the central government stated that no connection to Bangladeshi infiltrators has been established in recent land dispute cases in the Santhal Pargana region. This affidavit was filed in response to a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) by a BJP worker alleging that Bangladeshi infiltrators were marrying tribal women to seize land and causing infiltration.
The Jharkhand Janadhikar Mahasabha (Jharkhand People's Rights Assembly) highlighted that the BJP has been consistently propagating claims of a large number of Bangladeshi infiltrators entering Santhal Pargana, acquiring tribal land, marrying tribal women, and causing a decline in the tribal population. The BJP had also linked several incidents of violence and land disputes in the area to Bangladeshi infiltrators.
The central government's affidavit, according to the Mahasabha, exposes the BJP's attempt to frame local disputes as instances of Bangladeshi infiltration. The Jharkhand Janadhikar Mahasabha and the Democracy Protection Campaign stated that their own detailed fact-finding investigations had also concluded that the BJP was associating local land and family/community private disputes with Bangladeshi infiltrators.
In its affidavit, the central government mentioned a possibility of infiltration from Pakur and Sahibganj, which border West Bengal, but did not provide any evidence in this regard. The affidavit also reportedly misinterpreted census data to suggest a significant decline in the Hindu population in Santhal Pargana, stating that in 1951, Hindus constituted 90.37% of the 2.322 million total population, Muslims 9.43%, and Christians 0.18%, with tribals making up 44.67%. It further stated that by 2011, the proportion of the Hindu population had decreased to 67.95%.
The Mahasabha pointed out that the affidavit did not mention that the 1951 census only recorded six religious codes (Hindu, Islam, Sikh, Christian, Jain, and Buddhist), and tribals were categorized under Hindu. In contrast, in the 2011 census, many tribals identified themselves as 'Other/Sarna'. The Mahasabha asserted that the affidavit implicitly considered non-Muslim or non-Christian tribals as Hindu, reflecting the BJP and central government's policy of Hinduizing tribals by not recognizing their independent religious identity. It noted that if only non-tribal Hindus are considered, their numbers increased from 1,011,396 (43.56%) in 1950 to 3,425,679 (49.16%) in 2011.
According to census data cited by the Mahasabha, between 1951 and 2011, the Hindu population increased by 2.4 million, Muslims by 1.36 million, and tribals by 0.87 million. In terms of proportion of the total population, the tribal proportion decreased from 46.8% to 28.11%, the Muslim proportion increased from 9.44% to 22.73%, and the Hindu proportion increased from 43.5% to 49%. The major decline in the tribal population occurred between 1951-91, attributed to factors such as lower population growth rates due to inadequate nutrition, healthcare, and economic hardship compared to non-tribal groups; the settlement of Muslims and Hindus from other districts of Jharkhand, Bengal, and Bihar who acquired land from tribals through informal deeds; and the large-scale migration of tribals from Santhal Pargana and the entire state for decades. The central government's affidavit reportedly mentions the lower population growth rate of tribals.
The Jharkhand Janadhikar Mahasabha asserted that the communal agenda of Bangladeshi infiltration in Santhal Pargana is being consistently exposed by factors including the local administration's statement in the High Court that there are no Bangladeshi infiltrators in the area, local residents' claims denying the presence of Bangladeshi infiltrators, national journalists' investigations revealing falsehoods in the BJP's list of tribal women allegedly married to Bangladeshi Muslims, the Election Commission's team (including BJP members) finding nothing in its investigation, the Mahasabha's own fact-finding report reaching the same conclusion, and now the central government's statement of no established link in the cases. Despite this, the BJP continues to spread communalism and falsehoods in the name of Bangladeshi infiltrators, land jihad, and love jihad.
The Jharkhand Janadhikar Mahasabha reiterated its demand to the state government for just action against any leader or socio-political organization attempting to spread communalism using terms like Bangladeshi infiltrators, land jihad, and love jihad. It also called for strict enforcement of the Santhal Pargana Tenancy Act to prevent the sale of tribal land to any Hindu or Muslim non-tribal under any circumstances, and urged the central government to immediately conduct the pending census and caste census.

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