Will drive out Bangladeshi infiltrators from Jharkhand's Santhal Pargana: Champai Soren

Pakur (Jharkhand): Former Jharkhand chief minister Champai Soren on Thursday said the time has come to drive out Bangladeshi infiltrators from Santhal Pargana and get back land parcels "grabbed" by them.

The remark by the former JMM leader, who joined the BJP recently, came a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi cautioned that the population of Hindus and Adivasis in Jharkhand was declining and accused the JMM-led coalition government in the state of engaging in dangerous "vote bank politics" by "supporting" infiltrators at the expense of the state’s identity, culture, and heritage.

"We will not allow any intruder to live on our land where our ancestors were born and fought the British for their property and self-respect. We will drive out the Bangladeshi infiltrators and get our land back," Soren said while addressing a gathering organised by the tribal society at Gokulpur Haat Maidan under Shaharkol Panchayat of Pakur.

Soren paid tributes to icons like Tilka Manjhi, Veer Sido-Kanhu, Chand-Bhairav and Phoolo-Jhano who had challenged the British, due to which the Santhal Pargana Tenancy Act was enacted.

"We tribals belong to the oldest civilisation of the world, which never wished ill for any person. But our society never bows down to anyone. The first rebellion against British imperialism also took place from the soil of this Santhal Pargana," he said He said the infiltrators were "occupying tribal land and playing with the dignity of our daughters", claiming that there were dozens of villages where the tribals had been wiped out.

"Our effort is to strengthen the self-governance system of the tribal society", he said.

PM Modi during his Jharkhand visit on Wednesday had asserted that it was the time to "throw such forces out" to protect "mati, beti, roti" (land, daughter, bread).

"The time is ripe for 'Parivartan' (change) in Jharkhand to safeguard 'beti, mati, roti' and combat corruption. The JMM-led coalition is playing a dangerous game, jeopardising the identity, culture, and traditions of the people while patronising infiltrators," Modi had said.

He was addressing the concluding programme of the BJP's 'Parivartan Yatra' on Wednesday, which covered approximately 5,400 km across all 81 assembly segments of Jharkhand where the assembly elections are due later this year.