How BJP made a dispute between an Adivasi and a Muslim family an election issue in Jharkhand

Gaibathan is a tranquil village of about 1,400 people in Jharkhand’s Pakur district. Since July, it has been ground zero of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s infiltration narrative, which is the mainstay of its election campaign in the ongoing state Assembly polls.

The party, which is seeking to dislodge the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha government, has claimed that unchecked Muslim infiltration from Bangladesh under the JMM has put Adivasi land and identity at risk.

The BJP campaign, which took shape earlier this year, received a boost in July when an old land dispute between an Adivasi and a Muslim family living in Gaibathan flared up again. The party’s leaders projected the clash as evidence that the Hemant Soren-led government was allowing Muslims to forcibly take over Adivasi land in the Santal Pargana, the northeastern region of the state, which has six districts including Pakur.

Months later, with elections underway, Scroll travelled to Gaibathan, which is part of the Maheshpur constituency, to gauge the electoral impact of the events of July.

An old dispute

Gaibathan village has a mixed population, with Adivasis outnumbering non-Adivasi Hindus and Muslims, according to a report by the Jharkhand Janadhikar Mahasabha, a coalition of progressive organisations in the state.

However, in one of the four tolas or hamlets in the village,...

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