“Champai Soren is a six-time MLA, he was in the JMM government. Why did he not see the so-called infiltration? Jab Dilli se chashma banake diya, usko ghuspaithiya nazar aa gaya (Once he put on glasses given by Delhi, he suddenly spotted infiltration).”

Dakhin Hembram, a social activist who works with tribals, speaks for many in the Kolhan region of Jharkhand, as he questions the BJP’s election campaign centred around the issue of “illegal immigrants from Bangladesh”.

Comprising East Singhbhum, Seraikela Kharsawan and West Singhbhum districts, the Kolhan region, where campaigning came to a close on Monday ahead of November 13 voting, sends 14 MLAs to the 81-member Assembly.

The BJP has never had much success here, and in 2019, won none of its 14 seats.

Of the 43 seats that vote in the first of the two election phases in Jharkhand (the second is on November 20), 20 are ST-reserved seats, in Kolhan and North and South Chotanagpur, and Palamu division regions. Jharkhand has a total 28 ST-reserved seats.

In the 2019 Assembly polls won by the JMM-Congress-RJD coalition, the JMM won 12 of these 20 ST seats followed by the Congress at five. The BJP won only two seats (both in South Chotanagpur) and the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik) (JVM-P) one. The JVM-P is now merged with the BJP.

While the defection of Champai, among the senior-most leaders of the JMM, to the BJP is expected to help the latter in the Kolhan region to which he belongs, there is simmering apprehension among tribals over the BJP’s identity politics and its fallout – this is unlike Santhal Pargana, where the party’s drive is seeing more success due to instances of conflict between Hindus and Muslims.

The BJP’s “development record” has an edge, but the JMM’s Maiya Samman Yojana has its takers, while even those who say they may vote for the BJP doubt its claims of infiltrators marrying tribal girls for land. Plus, there is an overriding sense that Chief Minister and JMM leader Hemant Soren did not get “enough time”, with the first three years of his government lost to the Covid pandemic, followed by his arrest.

Apart from Champai, the BJP is banking on two other big names from Kolhan in its ranks, former CMs Arjun Munda and Madhu Koda. The relatives of all three tribal leaders have got tickets. While Koda’s wife Geeta is contesting from Jagannathpur, Munda’s wife Meera is the candidate from Potka and Champai’s son Babulal from Ghatshila.

Another BJP former CM, Raghubar Das, has a candidate in the Kolhan race, daughter-in-law Purnima Das Sahoo (East Jamshedpur seat).

As an old Kolhan hand, Champai knows that a switch to the BJP may not go down well in the region. Even in Seraikela, which Champai has represented six times as an MLA, there is resentment over his decision to shift camps.

BJP leaders are also facing the heat over the Raghubar Das-led government’s attempted tweaking of the Chota Nagpur Tenancy Act and Santhal Pargana Act in 2016. The attempted changes to the legislation had led to mass agitations, with tribals fearing displacement and loss of identity.

Says Hembram: “The tribals lost their trust in the BJP when the Raghubar government tried to create a land bank (with the Acts)… For tribals, everything – their livelihood, identity and existence – is linked to land.”

A JMM leader, who belongs to the tribal community, also underlines tribal “self-pride”.

The BJP has now promised that if voted to power, its government would enact a law to prevent tribal land from being grabbed by “infiltrators”. Others point out that the Santhal Pargana Act already ensures this.

Senior BJP leader and Lok Sabha MP Nishikant Dubey says the party will buck the trend in Kolhan this time because it is “fighting as the NDA”, and because Champai is with the party. “Moreover, the JMM is in disarray with its senior leaders rebelling against the leadership,” he says.

But Uttam Samal, who works with a private firm, says there is fear that the BJP’s high-decibel infiltration campaign may hurt communal amity. “Hindus and Muslims have been living together here,” Samal says.

Shuku Momin, a Muslim resident, says: “We have been responsible citizens, following the rules of the land. But now there is an attempt to paint us as outsiders and create disturbance in the area.”

The BJP’s refrain that tribals are a part of the larger Hindu community also worries the tribals. Sitting in a small sweet shop in Seraikela town, Hebram claims that SCs STs and even OBCs are not Hindus. “The Hindus believe in Akriti (idols), we believe in Prakriti (nature),” says Hembram.

The JMM source quoted above says the BJP’s attempts to create such polarisation between Christian tribals and Sarna tribals will not work. The BJP projects Sarna tribals as “Hindus”, and claims mass conversion to Christianity among them.

Sitting on the campus of the Adivasi Sanskritik Kala Kendra Bhawan in Kutmu in Lohardaga Assembly area, where the birth anniversary of Birsa Munda will be celebrated on November 15 in a grand manner, Chanchal Kumari, a teacher of economics, questions the BJP’s claims regarding marriage as a tool to usurp land.

“I have heard of a few cases of marriage of tribal girls with boys of other religions,” Chanchal says. “But that is not happening on the scale the BJP is claiming.”

She votes for the JMM because tribals like her hold party president Shibu Soren in high regard, she adds.

In Hesal village in the same Assembly area, Parameshwar Oraon, 56, says the BJP government led by Raghubar Das hurt sentiments of Adivasis by referring to them as “Vanvasi” – the argument being that the BJP does not see them as original inhabitants of the land but just those who “live in forests”.

While he does not like the Congress, Parameshwar adds, he will vote for the sitting MLA as the Congress is a JMM ally. Parameshwar’s son Shambhu is more inclined towards the BJP due to its “development” works. But the father brushes this away, saying CM Soren did not get time to deliver. “The Covid lockdown did not allow any work in the first three years,” he says.

The fact that both his daughters-in-law are beneficiaries of the JMM government’s Maiya Samman Yojana is also a factor for Parameshwar.

Sheela Lakda (26), at Ghaghra Chowk in Bishunpur Assembly constituency of Gumla district, sees the BJP’s claims of “love jihad” as absurd, but supports the party on development issues. A Christian tribal and a trained medical assistant, Sheela says: “I have heard BJP leaders’ allegations that infiltrators are marrying tribal girls. But I have never heard of such an incident in this area. Plus, if anyone marries into another community, that would be happening only with consensus.”

Sheela adds that it is difficult to mislead someone with a fake identity in villages “where population density is low”.

However, the beneficiary of Rs 1,000 a month under the Maiya Samman Yojana says she will still vote for the BJP. “Cash doles are not the way to empower people. Only development can bring prosperity. The BJP government developed roads, and it led to amenities like toilets, water and medical facilities in backward areas,” she says.

Saroj Kirki, an anganwadi worker roped in for the distribution of voter slips in the Nankum area of ST-reserved Khijri Assembly seat of Ranchi district, however, fears the BJP’s priorities are misplaced.

“The condition of Christians and tribals in both Manipur and Chhattisgarh is not good. But the BJP governments there are not concerned. Now it is trying to create divisions here by alleging conversions and love jihad by alleged infiltrators. The fact is that marriages within religions are happening with consensus,” Saroj says.

In Pahan Toli village of Khijri, farmer Karma Oraon says he voted for the Congress in 2019 and will do so again. His reason is the same as Saroj’s: “A tribal woman of a nearby village recently married a Muslim youth. I know it was a marriage with consensus and they are happy.”