date: 27 December 2022 Place: It was evening time in Borio Santhali Panchayat of Sahibganj district of Jharkhand. Dogs were barking loudly in front of the Anganwadi center of Borio Santhali Panchayat in Sahibganj district of Jharkhand. When people got suspicious, they reached there. saw that the dog something
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300 meters away from there, 50 more pieces of dead body were found in a sack in front of a closed house. It had parts of hands, legs, fingers, bones and knees, but the head was missing. The villagers informed the Borio police station, after which the police team reached the spot. Investigation started after taking the body parts into custody.
It was revealed that the dead body found in the sack was that of Ribika Pahadia, 22 year old daughter of village tribals Surja Pahadia and Chandi Pahadin. She was missing since two . Rebecca was first cut into 50 pieces by her own husband Dildar Ansari, then filled in a sack and hidden.
After the Rebecca Murder Case, the issues of Love Jihad, Bangladeshi infiltration and Land Jihad started rising in Jharkhand. Now in the assembly elections, BJP's central to state leadership is cornering the Hemant Soren government regarding the change in the social demography of Santhal Pargana. At the same time, the ruling JMM is calling it a 'fake election issue'.
A month before Rebecca's murder, she went against her family and had a love marriage with Dildar Ansari.
Are love jihad and land jihad dominant in Jharkhand? Are tribals really disappearing from tribal villages? What is the truth of Bangladeshi infiltration? To know the answers to the questions, Global News Daily's team reached the tribal villages of Santhal Pargana.
Starting from Pakur of Jharkhand, most infamous for Bangladeshi infiltration…
Not a single tribal family is left in the tribal village Jhikharati First of all we reached Jhikrahati village of Pakur district bordering West Bengal. Before 2000, the village was dominated by Santhal tribe. Now, more mosques and madrassas are seen here than the Sarna Sthal (religious place) of the tribals.
Here near Rahmatpur Bagan we found Anand Kunai. Anand has been living in this village since birth. Anand says, 'Once this place was known as Imli Bagan but now it has been made Rahmatpur Bagan.'
Now whose number is more here? In response, Anand says, 'Now only Mian (Muslim) people are left in the village.' Did these people already live here or did the settlement happen suddenly? In response, Anand says, 'No, all of them are coming from here and there and settling here. Buying tribal lands. Earlier only two-four mosques were hardly visible in this area. Now there is no account of them.
90% customers of ration shop in tribal village are non-tribal We could not believe what Anand said. We talked to Mohammad Mustafa, who has been running a ration shop since 2009, to know the truth. We were also surprised to hear what he said.
Mustafa said, '15 years ago there were 209 customers taking ration in the village. Today their number has increased to 400. Currently 90% customers are non-tribal. The remaining 10% are Hindus. There are people of Kunai and Rajvanshi community in it, but there is not a single tribal.
How many tribals were there in 2009? They get nervous before telling this. Then it is said that the population on both sides is increasing.
Tribal land being sold for Rs 4 lakh bigha Santhali Tola is 5 kilometers away from the village. This was also our next stop. Broken roads, flowing drains on the road and thatched houses were enough to tell that we have reached a very backward village. Here we met Mohammad Sheikh.
Sheikh Santhal, a resident of Jhikrahati, had come to Tola to do contract work. Along with building his two-storey house, he has also purchased land here. Bought 4 bighas of land at the rate of Rs 4 lakh per bigha. We asked Mohammad Sheikh 2 questions-
Question: From whom did you buy these lands? Sheikh: The people from whom we bought the lands are now dead.
Question: How was land purchased in Pakur even after the implementation of SPT Act? Sheikh: Buying and selling of land is happening easily here. There is no problem.
After talking to Sheikh, we tried to talk to the women here also. But, she did not agree to talk about anything.
Anyone who reveals Bangladeshi infiltration is receiving death threats Syed Daniyal Danish, living in Mango town of Jamshedpur, first revealed the Bangladeshi infiltration. Danish had filed a PIL in the Jharkhand High Court claiming that a large number of infiltrators have entered Santhal Pargana, due to which the demography there is changing.
Tribal people are decreasing rapidly. In the PIL, Daniyal told the court that Bangladeshi infiltrators in Santhal Pargana are marrying tribal women and converting them. Their lands are being grabbed through gift deeds. We contacted Danish over phone.
He says, 'I live with my sisters. I have to take care of myself and them, so it would not be right to say anything now.
What do the lawyers of Jharkhand High Court say on infiltration… After this we reached Abhay Kumar Mishra, senior advocate of Jharkhand High Court. Abhay has been practicing law for 30 years. We also talked to him on the issue of illegal infiltration.
Question: To what extent has there been infiltration in the tribal villages of Santhal-Pargana? answer: It is true that infiltration is a serious issue in Pakur. The population of tribals in villages is continuously decreasing. Their land is being purchased illegally. All this work is being done illegally.
Question: How are non-tribals buying land despite the Santhal-Pargana Act? answer: Many Panchayat level seats are reserved in Jharkhand. Muslims first help tribal women contest elections on these seats. Then when the woman becomes the head, he himself becomes the head husband by marrying her.
Question: Why don't tribals complain about occupation? answer: Fear has settled in the minds of the tribals. This is an organized crime, in which lands are being grabbed as part of a conspiracy. Christians started conversion in 1855, this has been going on since then. There was opposition to this then also. They fear that if they protest, they will lose both their land and their lives.
There was a dispute regarding the possession of tribal land, there was a claim of getting it as a gift. The incident is of 18th July 2024. There was a dispute over possession of tribal land in Gayathan village of Maheshpur block of Pakur. There was a violent clash between the tribals and the Muslim community. The matter was about the land of Dandu Hembram and Parmeshwar Hembram of Gayabthan. Both were building houses on their land. Then two persons named Safaruddin and Kalimuddin Ansari reached there with the crowd. They vandalized the house.
Safaruddin Ansari claimed that his relative Rahmatullah Ansari was donated 4 katha of land by Dandu Hembram's ancestor Nimai Hembram. Investigation found that the donation (gift deed) that Rahmatullah Ansari was talking about. They don't have any written document about it. Ganesh Murmu, head of Gayabthan village, told the police that the land belongs to Dandu Hembram and Parmeshwar Hembram.
This picture is of July 18, 2024. When there was a dispute regarding possession of tribal land in Gayathan village of Pakur.
Infiltration syndicate being controlled from Bangladeshi border Pakur Civil Court lawyer and social activist Dharmendra Kumar explained to us the entire network of infiltration. He says, 'This matter did not start suddenly. Bangladeshi infiltration has been going on since 1971. The highest number of cases of infiltration were reported between 1990 and 2015. The responsibility of bringing Bangladeshis to the border of Jharkhand lies with the infiltration agents.
'Some districts falling in the Santhal-Pargana division of Jharkhand are just 40-50 km away from the Bangladesh border. Among these, Pakur district is the nearest. It is adjacent to Dhulian in West Bengal, which shares border with Bangladesh. Ganga river flows between Bangladesh and Dhulian, after crossing it by boat, infiltration is possible.
Dharmendra further says, 'As soon as a Bangladeshi enters Jharkhand. Local agents become active to help him. The agents are helping them in making fake Aadhar cards, ration cards and voter ID cards. After this, their relatives already settled here provide shelter to the people.
On June 2, 2023, the Special Branch of Jharkhand Police wrote a letter to the SP and DM of all the districts. There was also mention of government documents being made illegally and fake voter IDs being made.
joru and zamin game Rajkishore Hansda, national convenor of Tribal Suraksha Manch, an organization working for tribals, says, 'The aim of the infiltrators is to marry tribal girls, take their land in their name and then build houses there and start living there. Bangladeshis are arriving here in search of work.
The name of the village is Sita. There is not a single Sita on the hill. Advocate Dharmendra Kumar says, 'There are villages like Bhawanipur, Ramchandrapur, Manirampur, Rahasyapur and Sita Pahari in Pakur. From their names it seems that all are villages of Hindus, but the current situation is different from this.
'There is not a single Bhawani in Bhawanipur. There is not a single Ram in Ramchandrapur. Not a single Sita was left in Sita Pahari. The villages have become completely Muslim dominated. Madrasa-mosque are being built here at Sarna site.
Center also admitted – number of tribals in Santhal decreased by 16% The Central Government has also admitted that there has been a large number of infiltrations in Jharkhand. In an affidavit filed in the Jharkhand High Court on September 12, the Central Government claimed that along with infiltration, large-scale conversion is also taking place in Jharkhand. People from tribal families are migrating.
According to the affidavit filed by the Centre, there have been rapid changes in the demography of 6 districts of Santhal Pargana division, Dumka, Pakur, Sahebganj, Godda, Jamtara and Deoghar. The tribal population in these districts was 44.66% in 1951, which decreased to 28.11% in 2011. At the same time, the population of Muslims increased from 9 to 23%.
The population of Jharkhand, which became a state in 2000, was about 97 lakh in the 1951 census, which increased to 3 crore 30 lakh in 2011. That means the average population of the districts increased by 7 to 8 lakhs. High Court lawyer Abhay Kumar says, 'It is impossible for the population to increase so rapidly without infiltration. This proves somewhere that a large population came from outside and settled in these villages.
ED registers case on Bangladeshi infiltration, Pakur district administration denies infiltration ED filed the Enforcement Case Information Report on the basis of Case 188/24 registered at Bariatu police station in Ranchi on June 4, 2024. In this case, the police had arrested 3 Bangladeshi girls who had entered Jharkhand illegally. This includes Nipa Akhtar, Samreen Akhtar and Nimpi Barua from Chattogram, Bangladesh, working in Bali Resort in Bariatu area.
ED revealed in its investigation that these girls were brought to Jharkhand through the forests from the Bangladesh border through secret agents. The brokers had collected huge amount from them to get them to pass the border. In this matter, ED had registered a case under the charges of money laundering.
When we asked Pakur DM Manish Kumar and SP Prabhat Kumar about the infiltration. Both of them rejected it outright. SP said that not a single complaint of infiltration has been received in Pakur. Political parties are making this their agenda in the elections.
Impact of Love-Jihad, Land Jihad and Bangladeshi infiltration on elections. Expert said – Religion and infiltration is not an issue in Jharkhand, BJP has less advantage. Avinash Hansda, professor and political analyst at Santhal-Pargana College, Jharkhand, says, 'People in Jharkhand vote after seeing the development and improvement of the tribes. The issue of illegal infiltration that BJP is raising will not help in the elections. Religion is not a big issue in Jharkhand. Therefore, love jihad and other such issues will not work here.
Jharkhand's senior journalist and political expert Shambhu Nath Chaudhary says, 'BJP knows that we cannot garner the votes of tribals by counting the shortcomings of the government. Therefore, by raising the issue of Bangladesh infiltration, she is trying to weaken Hemant Soren's tribal and Muslim vote bank.
'Champai Soren joining BJP will have an impact on tribal voters somewhere. BJP is holding a meeting with village heads to protest against infiltration in tribal villages. Big conferences like Manjhi Pargana are being held. It can definitely yield electoral benefits.
Now talking about political parties… JMM: Foreign infiltration is the failure of the central government, not ours. JMM general secretary Supriyo Bhattacharya says, 'The Supreme Court has accepted that maximum infiltration in the country takes place in Assam. The CM of Assam comes to Jharkhand and gives a statement that infiltrators are coming here. It is an old habit of BJP to blame its mistakes on others.
'Border security is near the Centre. Amit Shah is watching this. If Bangladeshis are entering, it is their failure and not the state government's.”
BJP: Tribal daughters-in-law are being tortured in Jharkhand Former Jharkhand CM Champai and BJP leader Soren says, 'Today the number of Bangladeshi infiltrators is increasing in Santhal Pargana. Bangladeshi infiltrators have captured more than a dozen Santhal villages. The village where 100-150 tribal families lived. There is not a single family left there today.
'The daughters-in-law of the tribals are being tortured, their land is being forcibly occupied. An atmosphere of fear is being created by murder. If even after all this the state government is not taking action, then it is going very wrong.
The land for which Hemant went to jail has only grass, caretaker said – CM never came here
Champai Soren said – Bangladeshis are occupying villages, conversion increased in Jharkhand
Graphics Source: NavJivanIndia | VaskarAssets | NavBharatTimes
