BJP today cornered Speaker Ravindra Nath Mahato over his statement denying any change in demography of Santhal Pargana region. State spokesperson Pratul Shahdev said that the matter of change in demography is currently pending in the High Court. The High Court has asked the Deputy Commissioners of the six border districts to file affidavits on this issue and tell how many infiltrators are living in their districts and how to remove them. The Speaker's interference in this matter even before the High Court has given any decision is a direct contempt of the High Court.
Pratul said that on one hand the Speaker is denying any change in demography, while according to the official census data of the country, the population of tribals in the Santhal region has decreased by 16% and the Muslim population has increased by 13% between 1951 and 2011. This is a direct case of infiltration. In the 60-year tenure from 1951 to 2011, the Congress government was in power at the Centre for 85% of the time. The then Congress governments are directly responsible for this infiltration. Pratul said that on June 2, 2023, by writing a letter to the Deputy Commissioner of all the districts, the Special Branch had clearly stated that the infiltrators are lodged in the madrasas of Santhal Paragana and their government documents are prepared. Pratul wanted to know whether the Speaker does not agree with the Special Branch of the state government.
Pratul said that the post of Speaker is a constitutional post and is considered above politics. But here the Speaker is giving statements like a spokesperson of a political party and is also commenting on pending cases, which is completely inappropriate. The Speaker should take care of the dignity of his constitutional chair.
The Speaker's comment on the visits of Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma is also beyond comprehension and objectionable. Pratul said that the Chief Minister of Assam is visiting Jharkhand in the capacity of election co-in-charge of Jharkhand. Earlier, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha was afraid of the visits of the Chief Minister of Assam. JMM leaders had even raised their voice on the expenses of these visits. Now the Speaker is also seen speaking the same language which is against the constitutional traditions.
The Speaker remarks and BJP objection on demographic changes in Santhal Paragana assume importance as on Wednesday the State BJP delegation headed by State BJP president Babulal Marandi met the Chief Election Commissioner and raised the demographic changes in Santhal region. The delegation comprised BJP legislature party leader Amar Kumar Bauri, BJP Rajya Sabha MP Pardeep Kumar Verma, Rajmahal MP Anant Ojha and others.
The delegation apprised the Election Commission official about an unexpected increase in the number of voters in the Lok Sabha elections-2024 as compared to the assembly elections 2019 in various assembly constituencies of Jharkhand.
