Ground Report From Jharkhand: There Is A Sense Of Impending Demographic Change In Hemant Soren's Constituency

Protecting roti (bread), beti (daughter), and mati (soil or homeland) — the slogan of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) — has gained traction in Jharkhand.

At least on a sentimental level, people — especially tribals — seem to take it seriously. This slogan is getting popular at a time when ‘batenge toh katenge’, in the aftermath of the attacks on Bangladeshi Hindus, is also gaining momentum.

Incidentally, after West Bengal, Jharkhand — especially its Santhal Pargana division — is considered to be one of the worst-affected regions of India in terms of infiltration by illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

Chief Minister Hemant Soren — a Santhal and arguably the biggest leader of the community — is often accused of turning a blind eye to this problem. However, it's not him alone who is blamed.

“It is true that he tacitly supported Christian conversion by staying silent, but his silence on Muslim conversion is due to the coalition and Congress going radical in its Muslim appeasement approach,” said Adarsh Anand, a political analyst.

Soren is a member of the Legislative Assembly from the Barhait constituency. The seat is reserved for Scheduled Tribes (ST). Santhal and Paharia tribal voters make up approximately 71 percent of the electorate here, while Muslim voters constitute around 10 percent.

A mountainous road connects Sunderpahari (in Godda) to Kadma village in Barhait. Kadma village has grabbed headlines in recent months for being one of those villages where ultimate authority lies in the hands of a Muslim man, alleged to be of Bangladeshi origin.

The nominal head (Mukhiya) of the village is a Scheduled Tribe (officially) woman named Elijence Hansda. Belonging to a conservative and poor tribal family, she started her own livelihood with tuition and later became an Anganwadi Sevika.

Her husband, Jaimul Ansari, was a family friend of hers. She says that despite her family initially being unwilling to accept the relationship, both went ahead and married.

A few decades ago, the village was known for having a very low population density. If one were to travel on the connecting road, barely half a dozen tribals trying hard to earn their livelihood would be seen once every 300-400 metres. Even the road was not properly connected in the modern sense of the word.

Today, the situation has changed — all thanks to migration. Slowly, Muslims from outside Jharkhand (read West Bengal) came here, saw open spaces, and settled.

“Most of them came here from Pakur, Sahebganj, and from there they had come from Bengal. After settling in main areas, the leftovers rushed here and increased their population — you know they produce a lot,” said Amritesh.

I stopped at a market to talk to locals. For the initial 10 minutes, no Santhal or Pahadiya could be seen. Right from the septuagenarian tea maker to people packing their stuff for taking it out to the market, or the labour employed to do that job, all were Muslim, and proud of it.

The driver accompanying me could visibly tell which ones were of Indian origin and which were Bangladeshi. He identified Bangladeshi-origin Muslims as a bit shorter in stature and having slightly paler faces along with a dark complexion.

He was reluctant to sit near them. When asked the reason, he responded, “You media people may ask uncomfortable questions, leading to our vehicle getting surrounded by sudden aggressive mobs. You know, they have unity.”

However, unity does not mean the administration listens to the people of Kadma village. Except for health centres in Kadma and nearby Gopaldih, locals have nothing to show for the government’s work. Even those were closed when this writer visited.

A private medical practitioner, Rafeeq Alam, told us that health parameters are doing okay with an increase in demand for reproductive care. According to him, health centres do well on this front and quickly refer if things are not under their control.

Other than that, there is very little work to show. People either travel or find any menial job (like washing dishes) that pays Rs 50-100. “Sir, I will now pack this van and go to Hatiya (market) and come back in the evening with not more than Rs 300-400 to go home,” said one person.

A visibly frustrated youth named Irshad sitting there said that his life is getting ruined here.

“Yes, whenever we have spoken to anyone or not voted in favour of JMM, its people have come and beaten us. They collect data from each booth and then visit our village,” said one Muslim youth, who asked to change his name to Muni Hembram.

Regarding the name change, he dismisses the concern by saying that no one cares about them (Santhals) anyway.

That virtually sums up the tribals’ condition in this village.

The situation in nearby Gopaldih is a bit better. Sunita Tudu, a former para teacher, is the Mukhiya of this village. She married Shaimul Ansari, her co-villager from the Julaha community. Locals say that he and his family were always active in politics.

“This is why he married her. The family always wanted power while the reservation of the seat would mean he could not contest. So Ansari married Sunita, despite being married once,” said a local shopkeeper.

The shopkeeper’s family has been in the village for generations and recently changed their location for a more peaceful life. “We moved here for a bit of peace,” he said without giving the reason.

An elder member of his family said that infiltration has increased in recent years and pointed towards a nearby mosque as the focal point of those activities. Considering the poverty in the area, the mosque is nothing less than grand.

Since there is a restriction on the sale of land here, these constructions are done on land donated through ‘bhudan’ — a practice in which tribals are coerced to donate their lands.

For Mukhiyas or other Muslims marrying tribal women, the advantage is that in tribal customs, land in the name of a daughter is transferred to her husband after marriage.

“You are Hindu, it does not happen in your culture. It does not happen in Muslim or Christian culture either. But that is the way it is in our culture. It is absolute luck for the son-in-law, whether he belongs to the Hindu, Muslim, Santhal, or Christian community,” said Rajesh Tudu, one of the main men in the local office of JMM.

JMM’s office in Barhait is arguably one of the most active offices in the whole of Jharkhand. It runs on the premises of Khalid Ansari — a locally influential businessman who frequently travels to Bihar, Assam, West Bengal, and other states, if needed.

Despite his busy schedule, Khalid does not miss an opportunity to participate in election campaigns for JMM. He says that the office has not been closed even for a day in the last three decades.

“Even in the worst of weather conditions, at least one person will be present here to help people if needed. If not for the dedication of these workers, the seat would not have been the bastion of JMM. Hemant Soren may lose from anywhere but will never lose from here,” said Ansari.

“Hemant came here young, but now he has done tremendous hard work to gain our trust,” said another worker.

Before Hemant, it was Hemlal Murmu who had largely held this fort for JMM. Rajmahal Parliamentarian Vijay Hansda also plays a key role in pulling tribal votes towards JMM.

JMM cadre is indeed extremely active in Barhait. They have a political intelligence team that keeps track of everything BJP is trying to do and takes swift actions to counter it.

Women were told that it is Hemant Soren (an already familiar name) who guarantees one thousand per month in their account, while BJP will make only fake promises.

Interestingly, opposition mobilisation around the old 'Rs 15 lakh promise' of Modi is still being carried out here.

Despite all the groundwork, the JMM cadre does have to face the Bangladeshi migration issue from time to time — especially in relatively urban regions.

Senior members of JMM’s Barhait subdivision do not have any credible answer except dismissing the allegations. During my hour-long discussion with the man in charge of campaign in Barhait subdivision, he said that it is only BJP’s propaganda, while simultaneously accepting the fact that a few cases may be there.

“In every country or state, there are some people who come from outside. A few of them (Bangladeshis) may have come here, but the good thing is that they have assimilated into us to such an extent that even we do not recognise which one is Bangladeshi and which one is Indian. What problem does BJP have with it?” said the man in charge of the campaign.

Deflecting the issue to Biharis, he added, “Biharis come here (in the whole of Jharkhand) for jobs, settle, and eat up our opportunities. Why is BJP silent on this?”

Without going into the legality of the issue, I inquired about the high fertility rate of Bangladeshis compared to Biharis. The response was, “It is again a cultural problem. You may want two kids, I may want one, if Muslims want eight, we (JMM) do not see a problem in that.”

It is worth mentioning that while he was defending the presence of Bangladeshis, a few smirks nearby could easily be seen.

JMM workers are probably relaxed about the situation because it has not reached alarming levels here. Even core BJP voters say that things are under control and they are properly following their tradition independently.

Gopal Ji, a religious and well-educated man in his mid-40s, has no qualms in speaking against both JMM as well as the party he votes for.

“With his incessant appeasement, Hemant Soren has destroyed the state and then blames Biharis. Biharis and a few corporates work here, which is why the state is a bit productive; otherwise, the treasury would have gone bankrupt due to freebies,” said Gopal.

“Here, their (Muslims) population is a bit less now, though they are extremely powerful due to the support of tribals. There are more converted tribals than visible to the eye. We know that very soon incidents like throwing beef in front of temples will take place, and things will go out of our control. I fear for my children,” added Gopal Ji.

The problem for Gopal Ji and other core BJP supporters is that the organisation of the party is weak here. While roaming in the area, it was extremely tough to locate its office in Barhait. We got there only to find it closed.

“It was opened during the Lok Sabha election. It has been shut for many months now. Looks more like a temporary arrangement than anything else. Now, with Vidhan Sabha coming, they will open it,” said a man running a shop in the vicinity.

That is the state of affairs on the day BJP announced its candidate for the seat.

As a result, the party cadre is scattered now. Without any organisation, many have gone to JMM in the hopes of some activity, while others have shifted to their routine 9-to-5 lives.

While JMM cadre could be seen everywhere, no BJP cadre could be spotted even at the time the party announced its candidate for the seat. The only semblance of presence in the main marketplace is that of “Join ABVP” posters.

Supporters can only be seen outside the house of BJP candidate Gamaliel Hembrom. Hembrom is considered an offbeat choice, probably because of his involvement with youth.

He himself is young and is renowned for organising sports tournaments — mainly football.

In many tournaments, international players were also seen, pulling crowds in large numbers. As evidenced by this writer, people even take leave from their day jobs and travel dozens of miles through whatever means of transportation they can find to watch these tournaments.

While JMM cadre says that he is a non-serious candidate, BJP’s supporters rely on the party’s track record of picking people from the grassroots and making them stars.

Gamaliel, a soft-spoken man with high local credentials, fits perfectly into this framework. Barhait though, seems a steep challenge for the BJP and an easy contest to win for the JMM.