The BJP stalwarts are once again focusing on infiltrators, allegedly responsible for changing the demography in tribal heartlands, to woo Adivasis in poll-bound Jharkhand — a ploy that did not yield dividends in the recent Lok Sabha polls.

The BJP in-charge for Jharkhand Assembly polls and Union agriculture minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who is the party’s co-incharge of Jharkhand polls, have in statements to the media raised concerns about the tribal population declining allegedly in the wake of ghuspetiye (a term used by the BJP leaders for the alleged Muslim infiltrators, mostly from Bangladesh) marrying tribal girls in Jharkhand.

This was the main plank of the BJP leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and home minister Amit Shah during their campaigning for the Lok Sabha polls. However, results indicated that the tribals did not buy this narrative as the BJP faced drubbing at all the five ST-reserved seats. They even failed to retain their seats — Khunti, Lohardaga and Dumka — despite massive campaigning led by the Prime Minister.

There are 29 ST-reserved seats in the 81-member Jharkhand Assembly and with tribals comprising over 26 per cent of the voting populace (as per 2011 census), their votes are considered crucial for attaining power in the state.

Shivraj Singh Chouhan, while addressing the party workers at Hatia in Ranchi on Wednesday, expressed apprehension that if the JMM-Congress-RJD coalition government returned to power in Jharkhand, tribals would gradually become a minority.

“If the JMM-led alliance returns to power again, the indigenous people of the state would become a minority. The demography of the state is changing because of infiltration from Bangladesh. The infiltrators were robbing tribals of land by getting married to tribal women,” alleged Chouhan.

The minister further claimed that only the BJP can save Jharkhand and make it prosperous so that people do not have to migrate to other states for livelihood.

Himanta Biswa Sarma, who winded up his two-day visit to Jharkhand (Khunti and Ranchi districts) on Wednesday, agreed in unison with the Union minister and claimed that once the BJP came to power, it would stop the exploitation of tribals by infiltrators.

When asked by reporters in Ranchi about the changing demography, Sarma said: “It is a big issue in Assam, the Muslim population has become 40 per cent. It was 12 percent in 1951. We are losing districts to it. The issue is not a political one but life and death for me.”

“Infiltrators first come to Assam and Bengal and then spread to Bihar, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh. They are marrying tribal women but due diligence of law is not happening. BJP government will formulate laws to safeguard the rights of tribal women in the state,”

JMM central general secretary and spokesperson Vinod Pandey claimed that both the BJP leaders (Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Himanta Biswa Sarma) are accused of scams and will fail in their “divisive” politics in Jharkhand.

“People taught them a lesson in the recent Lok Sabha polls. But it seems they have not learnt from it. By repeating the infiltrators’ narrative they are questioning the efficacy of the Union home ministry and our jawans guarding the borders. If the Assam chief minister claims that they are entering through Assam, he is also tarnishing the image of Assam police machinery,” Pandey reasoned.

Congress state spokesperson Sonal Shanti asked the BJP to question the Union home ministry and central forces on how infiltration is happening along borders.

“They should question the Union home minister and central forces if infiltration is happening even after more than 10 years of their government at the Centre,” said Shanti.

In the 2019 Assembly polls, the ruling coalition had 47 MLAs (JMM-29, Congress-17 and RJD-1), while the Opposition BJP had 26 while its ally AJSU had three MLAs.