Ranchi (Jharkhand) [India]: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Jharkhand election co-in-charge Himanta Biswa Sarma on Monday said National Register of Citizens (NRC) needs to be done to identify “infiltrators” in Jharkhand and further claimed that if it was not done then whole of the state will be occupied by the infiltrators.
Sarma also accused Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren of allowing infiltrators to enter the state and called infiltrators his vote bank.
“We have to do NRC and such surveys to identify infiltrators in Jharkhand. Yesterday, Union HM Amit Shah said that we will bring UCC but we will keep tribals away from it… If NRC and UCC will not be implemented, infiltrators will occupy the entire Jharkhand. Hemant Soren wants infiltrators to come as they are his vote bank…,” said Sarma while speaking to reporters in Ranchi on Monday.
In his campaign in Jharkhand Sarma has raised the issue of infiltration quite agressively and has projected it as a major issue the tribal state.
In past as well Sarma attacking the state government has said, “Yesterday too you saw the Jharkhand government’s internal letter in which it was written that intruders are given training at the Madarsas, Aadhar cards are made. So many things are coming forward, we believe that after these elections BJP government will be formed and we will implement NRC in Santhal Pargana.”
However, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren on Sunday hit out at the BJP and said that the NRC and Uniform Civil Code (UCC) scheme would not work in Jharkhand state.
Hemant Soren said, “They (BJP) are saying right now that they will implement NRC, UCC. We said that neither NRC nor UCC will work here, only Chota Nagpur Tenancy Act (CNT) Act, Santhal Pargana Tenancy Act (SPT) Act and PESA (Panchayats Extension to Scheduled Areas) law will work here. We have started the Guruji credit card scheme for students so that they can fulfill their ambition to become engineers, doctors, and lawyers. Under Guruji credit card you can take loans worth Rs 15 lakh to fulfill your ambition.”
Elections are being held on 81 seats of Jharkhand assembly in two phases on November 13 and November 20. A total of 2.60 crore voters are eligible to cast votes in Jharkhand and there are 1.31 crore male and 1.29 crore female voters.
The state has 11.84 lakh first-time voters and there are 66.84 lakh young voters. In the previous assembly election, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha won 30 seats, BJP won 25 and Congress won 16 seats.