The Jharkhand Janadhikar Mahasabha, a coalition of rights groups in Jharkhand, has cited the affidavit of the Centre before Jharkhand High Court to buttress its fact-finding report that Bangladeshi intruders are not involved in recent land dispute cases in the Santhal Pargana of the state.

The mahasabha has cited the affidavit filed by the ministry of home affairs (MHA) in the high court on September 12.

It said in a media statement: “(The) Centre has admitted in an affidavit that the involvement of Bangladeshi intruders in recent land dispute cases has not been established. In the PIL filed by an alleged BJP worker in the high court it has been claimed that Bangladeshi intruders are looting land and marrying tribal women.”

“In recent times, the BJP leaders have been continuously propagating that a large number of Bangladeshi intruders are coming to Santhal Pargana and grabbing the land of tribals, marrying tribal women and the population of tribals is decreasing.

“The BJP has linked many incidents of violence and land disputes in the area to Bangladeshi intruders. The affidavit of the central government has exposed the BJP’s game of giving these local disputes the colour of Bangladeshi infiltration,” the statement added.

The Jharkhand Janadhikar Mahasabha and the Loktantra Bachao Abhiyan had shared before media their fact-finding report earlier this month after visiting Pakur and Sahibganj districts in Santhal Pargana and alleged that the BJP was spreading the rumour of local land and personal disputes of families or communities by linking them with Bangladeshi infiltration.

“The Centre has in the affidavit stated that there is a possibility of infiltration in Pakur and Sahibganj, both situated near Bengal, but has not provided any proof in this regard. Also, by misinterpreting the figures in the affidavit, it has been stated that there has been a massive decline in the number of Hindus in Santhal Pargana.

“It has been said that in 1951 the total population of the region was 23.22 lakh of which the population of Hindus was 90.37 per cent, Muslims 9.43 per cent and Christians 0.18 per cent. In the total population of 23.22 lakh, tribals were 44.67 per cent. It has been said that the proportion of Hindu population decreased to 67.95 per cent in 2011,” the statement alleged.

“It is not mentioned in the affidavit that in the 1951 census, the census was done in only six religious codes (Hindu, Islam, Sikh, Christian, Jain and Buddhist) and tribals were included in Hindu only. Whereas in 2011 many tribals had written themselves in ‘other/Sarna’. In the affidavit, tribals who are not Muslims or Christians have been surreptitiously considered Hindus. This reflects the politics of (the) BJP and the central government to make tribals Hindus by not accepting their independent religious identity,” the Mahasabha statement claimed.

“The fact is that if we take the number of non-tribal Hindus only, then they were 1,011,396 (43.56 per cent) in 1950 which increased to 34,25,679 (49.16 per cent) in 2011,” the statement added.