NEW DELHI: Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Monday claimed that Muslim population is growing in the state of Jharkhand and the local tribal population is on the decline. Himanta, who is also BJP‘s Jharkhand election co-in-charge, accused the Hemant Soren led state government of letting “intruders” enter the state.
“I ignite fire against infiltrators. Lord Hanuman had also set fire in Lanka. We have to set fire against infiltrators and make Jharkhand a golden land,” he said.
The Assam chief minister who was in the state to drum up support for the saffron party ahead of the elections, claimed that Aadhar cards were being provided to infiltrators through madrassas in Jharkhand and that in Santhal Pargana, the tribal population is decreasing and the Muslim population is increasing.
“In Santhal Pargana, the tribal population is decreasing and the Muslim population is increasing. Not every Muslim is an infiltrator but how is the population of Muslims increasing every 5 years? Is a family giving birth to 10-12 children? If families are not giving birth to so many children, then definitely people are coming from outside,” he said according to news agency ANI.
Terming it “simple mathematics”, he exuded confidence that the BJP will emerge victorious in the elections and the priority, he said, was to “throw out infiltrators from Santhal Paragana”. The BJP’s poll-in-charge also pledged the BJP will implement NRC in Santhal Pargana division, if the BJP is elected to power.
Earlier on Sunday, the chief minister sought cooperation from states bordering Bangladesh to crack down on infiltration. Further, on that regard, he claimed Assam and Tripura governments of working closely with border force but singled out the West Bengal government led by CM Mamata Banerjee of not lending a hand to identify the infiltrators. This he said, would contribute to a “well-orchestrated effort” by all states to curb infiltration from the border.
The BSF, meanwhile, is ramping up its efforts to control the infiltration from borders, which since the political turmoil erupted in Bangladesh has witnessed a spike. The BSF authorities nabbed 12 Bangladeshis on Saturday who were illegally attempting to cross the border through Tripura. In another development, BSF troops arrested nine Bangladeshi nationals near Agartala railway station.
“In the last two months, almost every day we are capturing foreigners in our state. My feeling is that due to the porous boundary, in spite of best efforts of the BSF, some people are coming into India illegally,” Himanta said.
Earlier, BJP MP Nishikant Dubey, who is a four time Lok Sabha MP from Godda constituency in Jharkhand alleged that that neither the Congress nor the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha are concerned about the tribals due to vote bank politics.
Echoing the Assam CM’s remark, he claimed that Bangladeshi infiltrators are behind the 11 per cent rise in the Muslim population in Santhal Pargana and added that the BJP will not take it lightly until Bangladeshi infiltrators are sent back.
“In 1951, the population of Muslims was 9 per cent, today it is 24 per cent. Throughout the country, Muslims have increased by 4 per cent and in our Santhal Pargana, it has increased by 15 per cent, these 11 per cent are Bangladeshi infiltrators and the government of Jharkhand is accepting this. Due to vote-bank politics, neither the Congress nor the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha are concerned about the tribals. Until Bangladeshi infiltrators are sent back, the Bharatiya Janata Party will not sit peacefully, this is not the issue of the election, this is the national issue,” Nishikant Dubey told news agency ANI.
Elections are being held on 81 seats of Jharkhand assembly in two phases on November 13 and November 20.
A total of 2.60 crore voters are eligible to cast votes in Jharkhand and there are 1.31 crore male and 1.29 crore female voters. The state has 11.84 lakh first-time voters and there are 66.84 lakh young voters.
In the previous assembly election, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha won 30 seats, BJP won 25 and Congress won 16 seats
