News Analysis India

Tag: Matua community

  • Matuas to stop trusting BJP if Citizenship Amendment Act not implemented: Community leaders

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: Days after the Centre decided to grant citizenship to a section of people who came from a neighbouring country and settled in Gujarat, Matua community members in Bengal said they would ‘stop trusting the BJP’ if similar benefit was not provided to them.

    Leaders of the community said they will hit the streets if their demand for citizenship was not met with.

    “We are hopeful that citizenship will also be granted to us soon, but if that doesn’t happen, Matuas will be hitting the streets in protest,” said Mukut Moni Adhikari, a senior leader of All India Matua Mahasangha.

    Matuas, who make up for a large chunk of the state’s Scheduled Caste population, had been migrating to West Bengal from Bangladesh since the 1950s, ostensibly due to religious persecution.

    All those who migrated till March 1971 are legal citizens of India, according to the 1955 citizenship act.

    The ones who came after 1971 have to apply for naturalization after a stay of seven years, according to the provisions of the act.

    The Centre recently decided to grant Indian citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians who left Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan and settled in two districts of Gujarat, under the Citizenship Act, 1955.

    The Matuas, however, have been promised citizenship under the Citizenship Amendment Act of 2019.

    “We are aware that citizenship is being granted in Gujarat under 1955 Act. We want CAA 2019 to be implemented too as early as possible,” Adhikari told PTI.

    The controversial CAA, which can grant citizenship to all Hindus, Jains, Sikhs and Christians who fled religious persecution from neighbouring SAARC countries, is, however, yet to be implemented in the wake of the wide-spread protests against it, especially in the northeast.

    According to the Matua leaders, community members are apprehensive about the future of the law, which is pending implementation for nearly three years.

    Adhikari, who is also a BJP MLA from the Matua-dominated Ranaghat Dakshin constituency, said he is confident that the BJP government at the Centre would keep its promise.

    “Matuas want citizenship to be given under CAA 2019, which has religious persecution as a clause. The CAA 2019, once implemented, will give Matua community its due recognition,” Adhikari said.

    However, another senior leader of Matua Mahasangha, Asim Sarkar, said the community members will no longer have faith in the BJP, as they did during 2019 Lok Sabha elections, if CAA is not implemented before 2024.

    “We think the BJP leadership will keep its poll promise of 2019. But if it is not implemented before the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the Matuas will stop trusting the BJP,” Sarkar, also a BJP MLA from Haringhata assembly seat, told PTI.

    “What was the need to pass a new law in 2019 if you are granting citizenship under the 1955 Act? I think there should be a clarification,” Sarkar said.

    Around 30 lakh Matuas reside in West Bengal, with the community holding sway in at least five Lok Sabha seats and nearly 40 assembly constituencies in Nadia, North and South 24 Parganas districts.

    The promise of implementing CAA was a major poll plank for the BJP in the last Lok Sabha and Assembly polls, which helped the party bag all five Matua-dominated Lok Sabha seats in 2019 and at least 29 assembly seats in 2021.

    Speaking on the issue, Union minister of state for shipping Santanu Thakur said that CAA implementation has been put on hold as several cases are pending against it.

    “There are several cases that were filed by forces who didn’t want CAA 2019 to be implemented. Once these are cleared, it is likely to get implemented,” Thakur, also a Matua leader, told PTI.

    “The 1955 act is applicable till the new act of 2019 gets implemented. Matuas won’t be deprived of citizenship,” he added.

    BJP national vice president Dilip Ghosh pointed out that the BJP kept its promise “when it came to the Ram Mandir issue and Article 370” and that CAA will not be an exception.

    The ruling TMC in Bengal, however, claimed that the BJP was trying to fool Matuas with the “CAA hoax”.

    “They are trying to rake up the issue again ahead of 2024 Lok Sabha polls,” Mamatabala Thakur, a former TMC MP and the daughter-in-law of the community’s late matriarch Binapani Devi, told PTI.

    Political observers feel that implementation of CAA is unlikely in the near future as it has implications on domestic politics and also diplomatic ties.

    “The issue of CAA will be used by both the BJP and the TMC before next Lok Sabha polls as it will help them polarize voters on communal lines,” political scientist Biswanath Chakraborty added.

    KOLKATA: Days after the Centre decided to grant citizenship to a section of people who came from a neighbouring country and settled in Gujarat, Matua community members in Bengal said they would ‘stop trusting the BJP’ if similar benefit was not provided to them.

    Leaders of the community said they will hit the streets if their demand for citizenship was not met with.

    “We are hopeful that citizenship will also be granted to us soon, but if that doesn’t happen, Matuas will be hitting the streets in protest,” said Mukut Moni Adhikari, a senior leader of All India Matua Mahasangha.

    Matuas, who make up for a large chunk of the state’s Scheduled Caste population, had been migrating to West Bengal from Bangladesh since the 1950s, ostensibly due to religious persecution.

    All those who migrated till March 1971 are legal citizens of India, according to the 1955 citizenship act.

    The ones who came after 1971 have to apply for naturalization after a stay of seven years, according to the provisions of the act.

    The Centre recently decided to grant Indian citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians who left Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan and settled in two districts of Gujarat, under the Citizenship Act, 1955.

    The Matuas, however, have been promised citizenship under the Citizenship Amendment Act of 2019.

    “We are aware that citizenship is being granted in Gujarat under 1955 Act. We want CAA 2019 to be implemented too as early as possible,” Adhikari told PTI.

    The controversial CAA, which can grant citizenship to all Hindus, Jains, Sikhs and Christians who fled religious persecution from neighbouring SAARC countries, is, however, yet to be implemented in the wake of the wide-spread protests against it, especially in the northeast.

    According to the Matua leaders, community members are apprehensive about the future of the law, which is pending implementation for nearly three years.

    Adhikari, who is also a BJP MLA from the Matua-dominated Ranaghat Dakshin constituency, said he is confident that the BJP government at the Centre would keep its promise.

    “Matuas want citizenship to be given under CAA 2019, which has religious persecution as a clause. The CAA 2019, once implemented, will give Matua community its due recognition,” Adhikari said.

    However, another senior leader of Matua Mahasangha, Asim Sarkar, said the community members will no longer have faith in the BJP, as they did during 2019 Lok Sabha elections, if CAA is not implemented before 2024.

    “We think the BJP leadership will keep its poll promise of 2019. But if it is not implemented before the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the Matuas will stop trusting the BJP,” Sarkar, also a BJP MLA from Haringhata assembly seat, told PTI.

    “What was the need to pass a new law in 2019 if you are granting citizenship under the 1955 Act? I think there should be a clarification,” Sarkar said.

    Around 30 lakh Matuas reside in West Bengal, with the community holding sway in at least five Lok Sabha seats and nearly 40 assembly constituencies in Nadia, North and South 24 Parganas districts.

    The promise of implementing CAA was a major poll plank for the BJP in the last Lok Sabha and Assembly polls, which helped the party bag all five Matua-dominated Lok Sabha seats in 2019 and at least 29 assembly seats in 2021.

    Speaking on the issue, Union minister of state for shipping Santanu Thakur said that CAA implementation has been put on hold as several cases are pending against it.

    “There are several cases that were filed by forces who didn’t want CAA 2019 to be implemented. Once these are cleared, it is likely to get implemented,” Thakur, also a Matua leader, told PTI.

    “The 1955 act is applicable till the new act of 2019 gets implemented. Matuas won’t be deprived of citizenship,” he added.

    BJP national vice president Dilip Ghosh pointed out that the BJP kept its promise “when it came to the Ram Mandir issue and Article 370” and that CAA will not be an exception.

    The ruling TMC in Bengal, however, claimed that the BJP was trying to fool Matuas with the “CAA hoax”.

    “They are trying to rake up the issue again ahead of 2024 Lok Sabha polls,” Mamatabala Thakur, a former TMC MP and the daughter-in-law of the community’s late matriarch Binapani Devi, told PTI.

    Political observers feel that implementation of CAA is unlikely in the near future as it has implications on domestic politics and also diplomatic ties.

    “The issue of CAA will be used by both the BJP and the TMC before next Lok Sabha polls as it will help them polarize voters on communal lines,” political scientist Biswanath Chakraborty added.

  • PM says Matua guru’s teachings important to override attempts to divide society

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday paid homage to the Matua community’s spiritual guru Sri Sri Harichand Thakur and said his teachings and principles are of immense importance in present times when attempts are being made to divide the society based on language and region.

    Modi, without naming anyone, said it is a democratic right to participate in political activities, but the use of intimidation and violence against political opponents is a “violation of democratic rights”.

    Matua is a backward Hindu community, a section of which is demanding implementation of the CAA.

    “The teachings of Sri Sri Harichand Thakur becomes more important when we witness violence because of self-interest, and attempts to divide society on the basis of language and region,” he said while virtually addressing the Matua Dharma Maha Mela at Thakurnagar in North 24 Parganas district.

    He said everybody must oppose the mentality of violence, anarchy anywhere in society.

  • Santanu Thakur: An influential Matua community leader from Bengal

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: It was a family feud that brought Shantanu Thakur into politics and now he is one of the most influential leaders of the politically-crucial Matua community of West Bengal.

    Thirty-eight-year-old Shantanu Thakur, Lok Sabha member from Bongoan parliamentary seat who was sworn in as a union minister this evening, is one of the heir apparents of the influential Thakurbari a socio-religious sect formed by his ancestors Harichand-Guruchand Thakur- for the uplift of the Matuas, the second-largest scheduled caste community of the state.

    A graduate by education, Shantanu Thakur, the eldest son of former TMC minister Manjul Krishna Thakur, was more into the development of the Matuas through various social services run by the Thakurbari in Thakurnagar and was never into politics.

    Matuas, with their sheer size of the population and tendency to vote en bloc, just like the minorities, make for an enviable vote bank that all the political parties had tried to secure since the nineties.

    TMC chief Mamata Banerjee had first reached out to the Matuas around a decade ago.

    She nominated Manjul Thakur as a candidate in 2011 and inducted him in her ministry as a minister of state.

    In 2014, Manjul’s elder brother Kapil Krishna Thakur was nominated as a TMC candidate from the Bongaon Lok Sabha seat, which he had won hands down.

    But it was the sudden death of Kapil Krishna in October 2014 that kick-started the family feud between his widow Mamata Bala Thakur and his brother-in-law Manjul Krishna.

    Manjul wanted his youngest son Subrata Thakur to be nominated by the party for the by-election from the Bongaon seat, but the party leadership instead decided to nominate Mamata Bala.

    An infuriated Manjul Krishna quit the state cabinet to join the BJP and got Subrata, a party ticket to contest from the seat in February 2015, but he came third.

    Although Manjul Krishna returned to the TMC after few months but was never inducted back into the ministry; the party affairs in the area were handed over to Mamata Bala, the newly elected TMC MP Bongoan.

    But after his father was denied a ticket in the 2016 assembly polls and was cornered in the internal politics over the control of Thakurbari, Shantanu started hobnobbing with the saffron party.

    It was in February 2019, following a socio-religious meeting of the Matua community, which Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed, that Sanatanu decided to join active politics, and within a month, he was given nomination from the Bongaon Lok Sabha seat.

    Ridding on the promise of implementation of CAA and NRC, Shantanu won the seat by defeating his aunt and became one of the key leaders of the BJP in the state.

    He had also accompanied Modi to Bangladesh during his last visit to Dhaka in the middle of the Bengal assembly polls, which also included a tour to Orakandi in Gopalgank district in Bangladesh where the founder of the Matua sect and social reformer Harichand Thakur was born.

    Voting patterns in the recently-held assembly elections showed that the Matuas did not vote en-bloc for any one party and preferred to split their vote between the ruling TMC and the BJP.

    His induction in the union ministry is seen as an attempt to woo back the community, which exhorts influence in at least five Lok Sabha seats in Nadia, North and South 24 Parganas districts, ahead of the 2024 general elections.

  • Bengal polls: Amit Shah to visit Matua headquarters on Thursday

    By Express News Service
    KOLKATA: The much-awaited visit by BJP leader Amit Shah to Matuas’ Thakurnagar headquarters in North 24 Parganas is scheduled for Thursday. 

    The followers of the religious sect, who belong to the scheduled caste community, had migrated from Bangladesh. They want Shah’s to announce the deadline of giving them citizenship by implementing the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, the promise that the BJP had made before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and gained Matuas’ support en bloc.

    “Matuas are waiting for Amit Shah’s visit. The Union Home minister’s visit was cancelled on January 30 following a blast in Delhi. Thousands of followers of the religious sect, who turned up at their headquarters, were disappointed and returned home. This time, they expecting Shah to announce something significant related to their citizenship,” said BJP leader.

    ALSO READ | Bengal polls: BJP to unleash Rajnath, Adityanath to breach TMC citadel Birbhum

    Matuas are dominating factor in Bengal’s 36 Assembly constituencies spreading from north Bengal to south Bengal pockets. Two BJP MPs, who were elected from Matua strongholds of Bongaon and Ranaghat, expressed their discontent in the recent past over the issue of non-implementation of the CAA. Bongaon MP Shantanu Thakur wrote to Shah in this regard.

    BJP national leadership, including Shah and national president JP Nadda, dodged the issue of implementing the contentious CAA during their Bengal visits citing the Covid-19 pandemic which triggered a delay in setting up the rules under the new Act.

  • Bengal polls: Mamata swings into action on Matuas’ citizenship issue

    Express News Service
    KOLKATA: Banking on the sign of Matuas’ restlessness over the delay in rolling out of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), which the BJP is trying hard to assuage, the ruling Trinamool Congress has swung into action to earn electoral dividend.

    The TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee on Thursday convened a meeting of 4,000 members of scheduled caste (SC), the community Matuas belong to, and scheduled tribe (ST) wings of the party. She asked the SC members to launch aggressive campaign against the BJP’s false promise of giving Matuas citizenship by implementing the contentious CAA.

    The SC and ST members have been asked to showcase the BJP as a ‘party of liars’ in regions where tribal electorates are deciding factors.

    Sources in the ruling party said the CM did not want to miss the opportunity to use BJP’s embarrassment triggered by the cancellation of Union Home minister Amit Shah’s much awaited Bengal visit last month.

    ALSO READ | Bengal polls 2021: How Trinamool is losing narrative to BJP

    “Shah was scheduled to visit the Matua religious sect’s headquarters at Bongaon in north 24-Parganas and address on the issue of citizenship for the refugees migrated from Bagladesh that the BJP had promised in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Since election is approaching, Matuas wanted Shah to announce a deadline. After Shah’s Bengal visit was cancelled, Matuas are unhappy and we are trying to use their discontent in favour of us,” said a TMC leader.

    Matuas are deciding factor in 36 Assembly constituencies and majority of the community voted for the BJP in last year’s general elections.   

    Mamata Banerjee recently dismantled the TMC’s single cell dedicated to SC/ST/Other Backward Class (OBC) and set up separate wings to give dedicated representation to each of the communities. She also set up a dedicated development board for Matuas and granted a fund of Rs 10 crore.

    State Food and Supplies Minister Jyotipriya Mullick, who has been camping in Matua belt since Shah’s visit was cancelled, said the BJP has nothing to say on Matuas’ citizenship issue as the people of the Hindu religious sect realised the promise before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections was a trick to hoodwink them.

    “While visiting the Matuas’ headquarters after Shah’s visit was cancelled, BJP leaders said the dais, which was set up for the Union Home minister, would not be dismantled as the central minister would visit the area soon. It was another lie. Leaving the area would not be possible for BJP leaders without facing Matuas’ agitation,” said Mullick.

  • Bengal polls: BJP leaders visit Matua belt to ease discontent after Shah cancels visit

    Express News Service
    KOLKATA: In a bid to ease the discontent of Matuas triggered by the cancellation of Amit Shah’s West Bengal visit on Saturday, BJP’s top-level functionaries visited the religious sect’s headquarters at Thakurnagar in Bongaon, North 24 Parganas, on Saturday and assured that the Union Home Minister would come to the area shortly.

    The national vice president of BJP Mukul Roy and national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya went to Bongaon and met local BJP MP Shantanu Thakur, a representative of Matuas.

    “Amitji’s event had to be cancelled because of the unavoidable situation in Delhi. He called Vijayvargiyaji and talked to Shantanu Thakur over the phone. There is no reason to get disappointed. He (Shah) assured that he would visit the area any day in the near future,” said Roy.

    Roy also said the stage which was set up for Shah’s visit would not be dismantled. “It will be kept ready. Matuas will be informed shortly when Amitji is coming here and thousands of people will spill over the ground where the Union Home Minister will address a rally,” he added.

    Shah’s Bongaon visit was a much-awaited event as the followers of the religious sect wanted him to announce a deadline for giving them citizenship by implementing CAA. Matuas belonging to the scheduled caste community, who had migrated from Bangladesh after the 1947 Partition and 1971 war, voted for the BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections en bloc after the saffron camp had promised them citizenship.

    ALSO READ | Rajib Banerjee quits as MLA, thanks CM Mamata for ‘opportunity to serve masses’

    Banking on Matuas’ support, BJP’s deep inroads resulted in a massive jolt to the ruling Trinamool Congress, which failed to retain two Lok Sabha seats in south Bengal—Bongaon, and Ranaghat.

    Bengal BJP functionaries planned to bring Shah to Matua stronghold after the local MP, on several occasions, expressed his discontent for not implementing the contentious CAA and saying, “I don’t know what will be Matuas’ political alignment in the upcoming Assembly elections if the citizenship promise is not kept.”

    Using the cancellation of Shah’s visit as a political tool to regain the support-base, former TMC MP of the area Mamatabala Thakur alleged the BJP insulted Matuas by giving them a false promise of citizenship before last year’s general elections. “He (Shah) could have come here today for a few hours as the incident (the blast in Delhi) took place. It is a fact that the BJP has nothing to say before Matuas,” she said.

  • Bengal polls: To woo Matuas, TMC to hold rally at Shah’s venue in community stronghold

    Express News Service
    KOLKATA: Political slugfest between the BJP and the Trinamool Congress has intensified ahead of Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s two-day West Bengal visit starting from Saturday. 

    The ruling party on Friday decided to organise an event at the same venue in Bongaon, North 24 Parganas, on February 9 where the Union Home Minister is scheduled to address a rally on Saturday (January 30).

    When Shah’s visit is aimed to retain the party’s Matua vote-share that it had bagged in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections by promising the followers of the Hindu religious sect, who migrated from Bangladesh, citizenship, the TMC is desperate to win back the community. The saffron camp had promised to implement the contentious CAA and give the Hindu refugees citizenship before last year’s general elections.  

    “Matuas, influenced by BJP’s citizenship promise, changed their political alignment in last year’s election. Now, their dissent is conspicuous and they want Shah, the architect behind the CAA, to announce a deadline. The BJP is on a back foot as the new act triggered nation-wide violence. We have decided to hold a rally at the same place at Thakurnagar in Bongaon Lok Sabha constituency, where Shah will address a gathering, to give the BJP a befitting reply to their misleading politics,” said a senior TMC leader.

    The leader, however, said it is yet to be finalised whether party supremo Mamata Banerjee or her nephew Abhishek Banerjee will address the Bongaon rally.

    Matuas are a deciding factor in 35 Assembly constituencies across the state and the BJP secured the lead in 22 in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. In south Bengal, the saffron camp bagged both the Bongaon and Ranaghat Lok Sabha seats where the concentration of Matua electorates is high.   

    Bengal BJP functionaries decided to bring Shah to Matuas’ religious headquarters at Thakurnagar in Bongaon after the local MP Shantanu Thakur had recently said he was not sure what would be the political alignment of the religious sect followers if CAA is not implemented. He also said that Matuas want Shah to visit Thakurnagar and announce the deadline.

    The BJP high-command, including Shah and the party’s national president JP Nadda, have been dodging questions related to the implementation of the CAA during their West Bengal visits. Both Shah and Nadda said the process of preparing the Act was under process and it was being delayed because of Covid-19 pandemic.

  • ‘You have already become Indian citizens’: Mamata tells Matuas at rally

    By Express News Service
    KOLKATA: Challenging the BJP’s poll plank of citizenship for Matuas, Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee on Monday addressed a rally in Nadia’s Ranaghat — one of her erstwhile citadels comprising more than 40 per cent of Matua electorates who turned to be vote-bank of the saffron party in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. 

    Aiming to woo the support of the Matua community, the CM asked: “They (the BJP) hoodwinked the people living in the region. I will not allow the Centre to implement NRC and CAA in Bengal. Why do you need citizenship? You have already become Indian citizens.” 

    The CM said the Centre would ask for documents related to date of birth of the elderly. “Most of them do not have their date of birth documents. If your parents fail to submit the documents, they will be driven out of the country. So in the upcoming elections, drive the BJP out of Bengal to protect your family members,” Mamata said in her speech.

    As the discontent among the Matuas, comprising Hindu migrants from neighboring Bangladesh, has surfaced on many occasions in the recent past over the issue of delay in implementing the CAA, Mamata decided not to miss the opportunity to regain her party’s support base. 

    Last month, she had addressed a rally in Bongaon in North 24 Parganas and on Monday, she was in Nadia’s Ranaghat, both the seats dominated by Matuas and Dalits migrated from Bangladesh.

    Though the BJP bagged victory in both the seats in the last year’s general elections riding the citizenship rhetoric, the party’s national leadership including national president JP Nadda and Union Home minister Amit Shah dodged the issue whenever asked about the deadline to implement the new Act. 

    BJP MP in Bongaon Shantanu Thakur recently hinted at possible changes in Matuas’ political allegiance in the upcoming elections and demanded an announcement of the deadline to implement the CAA. Following this, Amit Shah’s Bengal visit was scheduled for January 30. He is expected to assure the Dalit electorates on citizenship.

    Taking a jibe at the BJP on its ‘Sonar Bangla’ rhetoric, Mamata said, “West Bengal has already been turned into Sonar Bangla. Bengal is now heading towards the goal of ‘Biswa Bangla’.

    Referring to TMC functionaries’ migration to the BJP, Bengal CM said the turncoats changed sides to protect their money. “They made a huge volume of money. Now BJP is offering the deal saying they can join the party and protect the money or face probe by the CBI or ED,” she alleged.