BJP vows to bring NRC in Jharkhand

Ahead of the Jharkhand Assembly election announcement any time now, the BJP has pledged to implement the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in the state and “root out illegal Bangladeshi immigrants.”

BJP’s election in-charge for Jharkhand Shivraj Singh Chouhan claimed today that the influx of Bangladeshi immigrants was altering the state’s demography. He announced that implementing the NRC would be a major promise in the BJP’s soon-to-be-released state Assembly poll manifesto.

“The population of tribals in Santhal Pargana has fallen from 44 per cent to 28 per cent. Bangladeshi immigrants are changing the demography of Jharkhand. Even the Hindu population is being affected due to these immigrants,” Chouhan stated, accusing the ruling JMM-Congress government of condoning illegal immigration for vote bank politics.

Chouhan emphasised that the upcoming election was not just about choosing a Chief Minister but “about saving the state.” He further claimed that illegal immigrants were obtaining Aadhaar and voter cards and marrying tribal women to acquire their lands.

Assam CM and BJP Jharkhand poll co-in-charge Himanta Sarma echoed Chouhan’s concerns. He said the BJP government, if elected, would review voter lists starting from 2001 to trace the backgrounds of new voters.

“The review will focus on families of new voters. If their names appeared in the voter list in 2014, 2021, or 2022, they will need to prove their antecedents prior to entering the Jharkhand voter list. If they can show they were in Bihar or Bengal, that’s fine, but if not, they will need to be sent back to Bangladesh through legal channels,” Sarma said. He noted that the NRC exercise in Assam had revealed 14 lakh illegal immigrants, and a second revision could increase this number.

Illegal immigration has become a major poll plank for the BJP in Jharkhand, with allegations that Bangladeshi infiltrators are marrying Scheduled Tribe (ST) women and buying their land, particularly in the six districts of the Santhal Pargana region. This region alone accounts for 18 of Jharkhand’s 27 ST-reserved assembly segments.

The issue, leaders say, is resonating strongly in the tribal-dominated areas. The matter is also before the Jharkhand High Court, where the Home Ministry recently filed an affidavit stating that the ST population in Santhal Pargana had decreased from 44.67 per cent in 1951 to 28.11 per cent in 2011.

“The decline is due to outward migration, low birth rates, conversion to Christianity, and other reasons which need to be assessed,” the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) affidavit noted. The BJP, however, insists that “Bangladeshi infiltration” is one of the primary causes that must be investigated.

Contrarily, the deputy commissioners of the six districts in Santhal Pargana have said that there has been no Bangladeshi infiltration in the region. The MHA affidavit also highlights cases of misuse of loopholes in existing land laws that permit the transfer of tribal land to non-tribals through affidavits.

In the 2024 Lok Sabha poll manifesto, the BJP skipped the promise of an NRC, opting instead to pledge the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). The state high court continues to deliberate on the issue.