New Delhi, March 12 (IANS) Amid the brewing storm over delimitation in Southern states, BJP MP Nishikant Dubey on Wednesday lashed out at the Opposition over its doublespeak and revealed that it was the Congress-ruled states which saw a rise in the number of seats after the exercise in 1973. Speaking in the Lok Sabha, the BJP MP from Jharkhand’s Godda constituency stated that after the 1973 delimitation exercise, there was no change in the status quo in states like Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. “The number of seats were increased in Congress-ruled states like Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and others. Also, it is the same party which advocated for making population the benchmark for the delimitation drive,” Nishikant Dubey stated.

His statements come in the wake of Stalin-led DMK whipping up apprehensions that population-based delimitation will adversely affect Tamil Nadu’s representation in Parliament. Recently, DMK chief Stalin, during an all-party meet in Chennai, demanded that the 1971 Census should remain the basis for allocation of seats through delimitation, while expressing fears that the current disparity in North-South population would make them lose out on a number of LS seats. The BJP MP also raised the issue of changing demography in his home state and slammed the previous Congress dispensations for ‘betraying’ Jharkhand. He said that Jharkhand was the only state which was left out in the country-wide delimitation drive in 2008.

He further claimed that this was done with a certain motive. “If delimitation was done in Jharkhand in 2008, the tribes of Santhal Pargana region would have lost one Lok Sabha seat and three Assembly seats,” he said, adding that it was not his assumption but the findings of the Kuldeep Singh-led Delimitation Commission report. He pointed to a sharp dip in tribal population in Santhal Pargana, a division in Jharkhand, comprising six districts – Godda, Deoghar, Dumka, Jamtara, Sahibganj and Pakur and blamed it on the Bangladeshi intruders and Rohingyas for the drastic change.

“In 1951, when population census was conducted, the Adivasis (tribal population) accounted for 45 per cent population in Santhal Pargana; however, in 2011 census, they were reduced to a meagre 28 per cent,” he pointed out. “The Muslim population has risen by over 4 per cent in the country since Independence, but their numbers have risen in Santhal Pargana alone by more than 15 per cent,” he added. The BJP MP said that Bangladeshi intruders have been infiltrating the country and reaching Jharkhand via Bengal and Bihar. “Because these intruders have taken safe refuge in Jharkhand, the tribal population in the state has suffered a lot,” he said and also demanded that the next delimitation exercise should be done only after excluding all the Bangladeshi intruders.

/IANS