Key themes from BJP leader and former CM Champai Soren’s campaign speech for the by-elections: “Bangladeshis have changed the demography of Jharkhand. Adivasis are being wiped out, population decreasing. In Santhal Paragana, thousands of acres of land have been occupied by Bangladeshis– they did not even spare Sidhu-Kanhu’s village and have built more than 300 houses.”
Themes from BJP leader Abhay Singh’s speech: “Adivasi sisters are being lured into religious conversion and are accepting Islam, but Hemant Soren does not seem to understand. When Champai ji visited villages, he said he would fight against the religious conversion of Adivasis and began raising his voice everywhere against Bangladeshi ‘ghuspaith’ (infiltrations), and that started to bother some people. Hemant Soren ji, why don’t you speak? I want to ask — what kind of relationship is this, when Adivasi are declining, and entire villages are being converted? Why do you remain silent? My brothers sitting behind, go to your villages and tell everyone — if Adivasis decline, Jharkhand will collapse.”