Assam Chief Minister cum Jharkhand BJP election co-in-charge Himanta Biswa Sarma has released a video and given a message to BJP workers. Putting forth his views in a social media post, he said that party workers safety is his priority, and this friend of his from Assam will always stand with him. He further said that he has spent four months in Jharkhand.
Himanta said, we tried our best to win the election together. But our aim could not be successful. When someone is not successful in work, then the same failure becomes the foundation of success in future. He has requested the newly elected BJP MLAs to keep raising the issue of infiltration in the House. Your love and affection will always be remembered. Whenever you come to Assam, remember that your friend is also in Assam.
Assam CM cum Jharkhand BJP election co-in-charge Himanta Biswa Sarma has said that the defeat in Jharkhand is very sad for me personally, even though we have won all the five by-elections in Assam. I have seen the unwavering dedication and tireless efforts of my workers in Jharkhand. Who gave their all in this election. We fought the election with the vision of saving the state from infiltration and taking it on the path of development by fulfilling the aspirations of students and youth. However, we must humbly accept the mandate of the people, as this is the true essence of democracy. In these challenging times, we will stand firmly with our workers and provide them unwavering support and solidarity.
Hoping to wrest Jharkhand from the Hemant Soren-led JMM govt, the BJP went to the polls with a strong strategy of showcasing cases of poor tribals losing their land to Bangladeshi land grabbers, in a move that eventually backfired with the entire campaign getting lost in translation on ground.
And the result was JMM in its bastion of Santhal Pargana clinched all 18, but one seat with the help of its partners BJP got reduced from four seats in 2019 to one this time while the JMM bagged 11, Congress four and RJD two. Devendra Kunwar is the only BJP man in Santhal's Jarmundi seat.
The idea was to examine how much of tribal land had changed hands from tribals over the past few decades and star BJP campaigner Himanta Biswa Sarma highlighting how JMM was becoming a stumbling block.
Turns out, many tribals in the region, reeling under abject poverty were signing daan patras (tribal land is legally non-transferable) to hand over their non-saleable land to local Muslims to run a business and getting paid in return. Almost the entire Santhal Pargana region is governed by Santhal Pargana Tenancy Act of 1876 under which not even an inch of tribal land is transferable. This renders the tribals poor, especially when they are unable to practice farming. Under tacit local understanding they write off their land for a small price to local Muslim families and also get some money annually when it's the time to pay land revenue.
