In the Jharkhand Assembly elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party focused on the issue of implementation of the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) in its resolution letter. Not just in the manifesto, but in the way Home Minister Amit Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi have spoken at their election rallies, it seems that the BJP is trying to make the UCC an issue in the elections. Jharkhand elections. On one hand, the BJP promises to keep the tribals out of the UCC and on the other, the BJP government will come and expel the infiltrators from the borders of Jharkhand. Actually, the BJP wants to break the alliance of tribal and Muslim votes due to the unity of the Congress and the JMM. Among the Bangladeshis whom the BJP talks about expelling, 100 percent of illegal immigrants belong to the Muslim community. On one hand, the BJP says that the UCC will be implemented in the state, while Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren openly says that neither the UCC nor the NRC will be implemented in the state. Thus, the UCC issue has become hot in the assembly elections.
2- Why did the UCC issue suddenly come to light?
The alleged demographic change in Jharkhand has become a controversial issue. This is the reason why the Bharatiya Janata Party, which is in opposition in the state, continuously raises the issue of infiltration from Bangladesh. In the same month of July, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, while speaking about this at a rally in Ranchi, had said that if the BJP comes to power, it will release a white paper on demography. While all this was happening, in August, the Jharkhand High Court directed the Hemant Soren government to identify illegal Bangladeshi migrants living in the Santhal Pargana region of the state. A division bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Sujit Narayan Prasad and Justice Arun Kumar Rai had given this direction to the government while hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by activist Daniel Danish on illegal immigration. . After this order, it was obvious that the matter was going to escalate.
The court asked the government to launch a massive campaign to differentiate between natives and illegal immigrants in the area. The court ordered that essential documents such as ration card, Aadhar card and voter ID card be issued only after thorough verification. The petitioner had given evidence before the court that illegal immigrants are settled in six districts of Santhal Pargana – Deoghar, Dumka, Sahibganj, Pakur, Godda and Jamtara. They presented data showing significant demographic changes over several decades, in which the percentage of the tribal population decreased from 44.67% in 1951 to 28.11% in 2011, while the percentage of the minority community increased from 9 .44% to 22.73% during the same period.
Godda MP Nishikant Dubey has repeatedly said that the Santhal Pargana Tenancy Act (SPT) is being openly violated in Santhal Pargana and Bangladeshi infiltrators are taking advantage of it. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has also issued a similar decision. In which it has been said that infiltrators from all over the country should be returned to their country.
2-What is the math of Muslim votes in Jharkhand?
Jharkhand, a tribal-dominated state, has around 15 per cent Muslim population. There are a total of 81 assembly seats in the state and out of them, there are 15 seats in which Muslim voters are in a position to play a decisive role or play an important role in deciding the outcome. There are seven assembly seats in this state, where the population of Muslim voters ranges between 20 and 40 per cent. That is why the Bharatiya Janata Party thought that this negative point should be converted into a positive point. The party has raised the UCC issue to cash in on the rising Muslim population in Santhal Pargana across the state.
In Jamtara there are around 40 percent Muslims, while in Pakur and Rajmahal also the Muslim population is around 36 percent. The Muslim population is estimated to be around 26 per cent in Godda and Madhupur and 23 per cent in Tundi and Gandey. There are around half a dozen Assembly seats in Jharkhand, where the Muslim population ranges between 15 and 20 per cent. Seat names like Mahagama, Hatia, Dhanbad are in the list of such seats. Muslim voters play an important role in deciding victory or defeat in about 15 seats in Jharkhand, but they remain marginalized in terms of representation in the legislature.
3-What is the strategy in the BJP’s resolution letter?
The most important issue in the manifesto issued by the BJP for the Jharkhand elections is to identify the infiltrators and expel them. It has been promised to implement the UCC with exemption for tribals. Which is being brought directly to save the tribals. The party has also promised to return to its original owners those lands that have been taken by non-tribal people after marrying tribal girls. Obviously, this strategy of BJP is working to break the strategy made by JMM and Congress to connect tribals and Muslims.
This ties in with the JMM-Congress alliance’s strategy to break the tribal-Muslim equation. Union Home Minister Amit Shah said in Ranchi on Sunday that our government will implement the Uniform Civil Code in Jharkhand, but tribal communities will be left out of its purview. The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) government (in the state) is propagating the lie that the Uniform Civil Code will affect the rights of tribals besides affecting their culture. This is completely unfounded, because they will be out of reach.
The Home Minister said the BJP will introduce a law in Jharkhand to recover land from infiltrators and identify and deport illegal immigrants. He claimed that illegal immigrants were threatening ‘Maati, Beti, Roti’ and that the BJP would provide security to the local people. Shah alleged that the local administration was promoting infiltration into West Bengal and Jharkhand. He said the BJP will expel the Bangladeshi infiltrators.
On the other hand, soon after, Chief Minister Hemant Soren responded and said that neither the UCC nor the National Register of Citizens (NRC) will be implemented in the state.
