The “infiltration” of Bangladesh immigrants and Rohingya Muslims into the Adivasi community is one of the key issues of poll campaigning in the Jharkhand Assembly elections. Recently, PM Modi accused the JMM-led coalition government of engaging in vote bank politics and appeasing the “infiltrators”. He claimed that JMM, Congress, and RJD are failing to address the issue of infiltration, despite a high court order to investigate the matter.

A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was filed with the High Court urging an investigation into the matter. On September 12, the HC ordered an independent “fact-finding” committee to investigate the issue. The Centre also claimed to have assessed the “infiltration” into the Sahibganj and Pakur districts.

PM Modi accuses opposition of siding with “them”

Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently delivered a speech in Jharkhand, where he criticized the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), Congress and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) coalition government for playing “appeasement politics” and allegedly supporting Bangladeshi Muslim immigrants and Rohingya Muslims. He claimed that these groups are changing the demography of regions like Santhal Parganas and Kolhan, and that the tribal population is declining as a result.

PM Modi had criticized the JMM-Congress-RJD coalition government for not acknowledging the influx of immigrants, despite the high-court order for investigation. He claimed that the JMM-led government was “trained in Congress’ school of corruption” and accused them of being power-hungry and engaging in vote bank politics.

Is there an infiltration?

The PIL cited data from the Office of the Registrar General of India to claim that the proportion of Scheduled Tribes in Santhal Pargana’s population was 44.67% in 1951 and fell to 28.11% in 2011.

The plea filed with the HC had also claimed that the immigrants from Bangladesh were allegedly marrying into Adivasi communities to aquire land and influence. This belief was heavily perpetrated by Union Home Minister, BJP’s Amit Shah, who labelled the practice, “love jihad”.

Centre’s affidavit to HC

The Centre claimed that infiltration has been assessed in the Sahibganj and Pakur districts, leading to demographic changes. However, the affidavit submitted to HC through Ministry of Home Affairs clarified that no direct linkages to Bangladeshi immigrants in land-related cases have been established. The Centre also noted that the Jharkhand government’s support in addressing the issue has been “less than expected”.

The Centre had also clarified that there were other reasons responsible for the dip in the tribal population than migration such as low birth rate among tribes and religious conversions. It also claimed that loopholes in existing laws were being exploited to transfer land ownership from “tribals to non-tribals”.

In its affidavit, the Centre said it had informed the Jharkhand government in 2021 about 145 foreigners living in the state, with an additional list of 205 suspected foreigners. The Centre’s affidavit claimed that the share of the Hindu population in the Santhal Pargana region “decreased by 22.42%”.

On the other hand, the affidavit said that the “Christian population growth rate” was 67.48% and that the Muslim population’s share had “increased by 13.3%”. The 2011 Census recorded “5,857 Muslim tribes registered in Santhal Pargana”, it said.

According to recent reports, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has launched an investigation in to the “infiltration” under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). It is based on an FIR registered by Jharkhand police related to illegal trafficking of Bangladeshis and Rohingyas.

According to reports, there is a well-organized network in Jharkhand and West Bengal that forges fake documents to allow the immigrants to pass off as Indians, which the agency will be investigating.