J’khand will have UCC, tribals exempted: Shah

PTI Ranchi: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday announced that the BJP will implement the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) in Jharkhand if voted to power in the state, but would keep tribals out of its ambit. Shah, while releasing the saffron party’s manifesto, ‘Sankalp Patra’, for the upcoming assembly elections in Jharkhand, announced that a Displacement Commission would be formed to ensure the 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 spreading 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 will 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,” he said.

Shah said the saffron party, if voted to power, will create 5 lakh employment opportunities, including 2.87 lakh government jobs, in Jharkhand. The Home Minister said that BJP will bring in a law to take back land from infiltrators in Jharkhand and identify and deport the illegal immigrants. 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.

The local administrations encourage infiltration in West Bengal and Jharkhand, Shah alleged. “Crimes against women rose by 29 per cent during the five year tenure of corrupt and insensitive Hemant Soren government, while rape cases saw an increase of 42 per cent during the period,” Shah alleged. He accused the JMM-led government of patronising infiltrators, while claiming that the tribal population was dwindling in the state and demography was changing fast.