BJP to bring UCC in Jharkhand, take back tribal land from infiltrators: Amit Shah

Union home minister Amit Shah on Sunday said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would implement uniform civil code (UCC) in Jharkhand, if elected to power in the state, but will keep tribals out of its ambit. He was releasing the party’s manifesto for the upcoming assembly election, which includes 25 major sectoral announcements, marking the completion of 25 years of Jharkhand in 2025.
“The Congress and the Opposition have been spreading rumours that the UCC would take away rights of the tribals. I would like to reiterate that the BJP will implement UCC in Jharkhand but keep all tribal rights and culture out of it. We already have a model in Chhattisgarh where tribal customary laws have been kept out of it,” he said.
A law to restore land of tribals grabbed by Bangladeshi infiltrators, institution of a commission for rehabilitation of the people displaced due to development and mining activities and a host of welfare schemes targeting women and youth are some of the key highlights of the BJP’s Sankalp Patra.He also called the Hemant Soren government in the state as the “most corrupt” government in the country.
Accusing the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM)-Congress-Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) government of harbouring Bangladeshi infiltrators who are targeting tribal women, Shah said the BJP government would identify each infiltrator and deport them besides bringing a law to restore land to the tribals.
“The Bangladeshi infiltrators are targeting tribal women and trapping them through multiple marriages and grabbing their land. The tribal culture is under threat. Once we come to power, we would identify each one of them and deport them. The state government would also bring a law to restore the land back to the tribal girls which have been grabbed by the infiltrators after marriage through gift deeds,” he said.
“The border terrain is difficult due to long forest and mountainous terrain. Infiltration has been checked in Assam since BJP came to power there. But it’s not stopping in Bengal and Assam because the state governments are not working to check it. Hemant Soren can’t run away from the responsibility. Why are the patwari and collectors not identifying and reporting the matter to the Centre. The intention is important. The Hemant government has it on affidavit in high court they don’t want to work for it. But their tenure is short lived. We will identify them,” Shah said.
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The BJP has been raising the issue of alleged Bangladeshi infiltration and demographic change in Santhal Parganas division due to reduction of tribal population and increase of Muslim population in its election campaign for the state polls scheduled in two phases on November 13 and 20.
Shah alsp hit back at the Soren government’s demand to release ₹1.36 lakh crore outstanding dues with the central mining PSUs against land compensation and royalty against mined major minerals in the state. He said, “They keep taking about 1 lakh crore. I want to ask Hemant Soren, how much money did the UPA government give Jharkhand between 2004-14 and the money disbursed by the Modi government in the next ten years. He won’t reply, so I have the figures. The UPA government gave ₹84,000 crores in 10 years. In comparison, the Modi government has given ₹3.8 lakh crores in the past 10 years. This is apart from the ₹15,000 crore given for highway projects and ₹65,000 crores for rail projects.”
The Hemant Soren government has been alleging that the Centre conspired to put him in jail after he started claiming payment of the outstanding ₹1.36 lakh crore. Shah, however, underlined that those caught in corruption would have to go to jail.
Replying to a query on the BJP promoting the ‘Revdi’ culture while opposing the freebies by other parties, Shah said the BJP was doing it after factoring in fiscal prudence, unlike the Congress governments who have failed to implement the electoral promises.
“I thank Congress president Mallikarjuna Kharge for his statement (advising against making exaggerated promises). “But unlike the Congress governments in Telangana, Himachal and Karnataka, the BJP governments are implementing it as we are making on those promises which the budgetary allocations permit,” said Shah.
Some of the key freebies announced by the BJP for Jharkhand polls include ₹2,100 per month to all women, scholarship of ₹2,000 to graduate and post-graduates, gas cylinders at the rate of ₹500 and registration of property upto ₹50 lakh in the name of women against stamp duty of ₹1.