Jharkhand HC calls for identifying ‘illegal Bangladeshis’ amid debate on demographic change in state
Loktantra Bachao Abhiyan, an Adivasi rights group, had refuted the Bharatiya Janata Party’s claims of undocumented immigration in the region.
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The Jharkhand High Court on Tuesday directed the state’s Jharkhand Mukti Morcha-led government to identify “illegal Bangladeshi immigrants” living in the Santhal Pargana region, reported Live Law.
The region comprises six districts: Godda, Deoghar, Dumka, Jamtara, Sahibganj and Pakur.
A division bench of Acting Chief Justice Sujit Narayan Prasad and Justice Arun Kumar Rai issued the directive on a public interest litigation filed by activist Daniel Danish. The next hearing in the case is scheduled for August 22.
The Bharatiya Janata Party has in recent weeks stoked a debate over alleged demographic changes in Jharkhand by persistently alleging “Bangladeshi infiltration” in the state.
Last month, Union home minister Amit Shah said at a rally in Ranchi that if the BJP came to power in Jharkhand it would release a white paper on the state’s demographics. Elections to the Jharkhand Assembly are due to be held between November and December.
The Loktantra Bachao Abhiyan, an Adivasi rights group, had issued a statement on July 29 refuting allegations of demographic changes in Jharkhand due to undocumented migrants from Bangladesh.
“Recently, BJP and its prominent leaders are continuously giving statements that large number of Bangladeshi infiltrators are settling in Jharkhand, Adivasi population is decreasing, Adivasi girls are being married to infiltrators, their land is being grabbed, love jihad,...
