Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday released the Bharatiya Janata Party’s ‘Sankalp Patra’ (manifesto) for the Jharkhand Assembly elections. It promises to implement the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) in Jharkhand if voted to power in the state, but would keep tribals out of its ambit.
Amit Shah announced that a Displacement Commission would be formed to ensure rehabilitation of people displaced by industries and mines in the state.”Our government will introduce UCC in Jharkhand but tribals will be kept out of its ambit. Hemant Soren and the JMM government are making false propaganda that UCC will impact tribal rights, culture and relevant legislation, which is totally baseless as they will be kept out of its ambit,” Shah said in Ranchi.
He said that though UCC would be implemented, it would ensure that tribal rights are not impacted. “The BJP, if voted to power in Jharkhand, will deliberate on the Sarna religious code issue, and take appropriate decisions. A Displacement Commission will be formed to ensure the rehabilitation of people displaced by industries and mines in Jharkhand,” he said.
Reiterating allegations of land being taken from tribal people in Jharkhand’s Santhal Pargana region, Amit Shah said that if the BJP came to power in the state, it would bring a law to return the land that he said had been grabbed by “infiltrators”.
Shah also said the “infiltrators” were violating the rights of women in Jharkhand and making them get married for the “second-third time”. He accused the Soren government of allowing this while “sitting silently in the greed of vote bank”.
Shah said the saffron party, if voted to power, would create five lakh employment opportunities, including 2.87 lakh government jobs, in Jharkhand. He claimed that ‘Mati, Beti, Roti’ (land, daughter and food) were under threat from the illegal immigrants and the BJP would provide security to the indigenous people.
Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma, Union Ministers Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Sanjay Seth and BJP Jharkhand president Babulal Marandi were also present.
