News Analysis India

Tag: Matuas

  • Half of BJP’s seats in West Bengal came from Dalit dominated constituencies

    Express News Service
    KOLKATA: Half of BJP’s final tally of 77 seats in the West Bengal Assembly elections came in constituencies reserved for the Dalits. The state has 84 constituencies reserved for SC and ST candidates and the saffron camp won 38 of these.

    Among the Dalit seats bagged by the BJP, 18 are located in north Bengal, where the BJP had made deep inroads in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. BJP won 31 seats dominated by the SCs and seven seats dominated by STs.

    Many of the seats are dominated by Matuas, a Hindu religious sect comprising those who had migrated from Bangladesh. They were promised citizenship by implementing the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), which West Bengal chief minister Manata Banerjee is strongly opposing.

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    “We won 10 seats among the reserved category where Matuas are a deciding factor. We promised these sections of Hindu refugees citizenship before the 2019 general elections which could not be implemented because of Covid-19. Before this Assembly election, we again made the same promise and Matuas decided to keep their faith in us,” said a senior BJP leader in Bengal.

    The Matua-dominated constituencies won by the BJP are Gazole in Malda, Krishnaganj, Ranaghat (South), Ranaghat (North-East), Kalyani and Haninghata in Nadia and Bagda, Bongaon (North), Bongaon (South) and Gaighata in North 24 Parganas.

    The saffron camp seems to have managed to retain its Dalit vote-bank in the north Bengal region where the Rajbanshi community forms a considerable chunk of the electorate.     

    The Dalits, however, in Junglemahal, comprising Purulia, Jhargram, West Midnapore and parts of Bakura districts, rejected the saffron camp. The BJP bagged victory in only three of the 12 Dalit-dominated seats.

    “In 2019, we secured a thumping victory in Junglemahal. Dalits supported us en bloc. But in this Assembly election, we received a massive jolt in this region. Electorates in non-reserved seats, too, did not accept the BJP. In the 40 Assembly constituencies, we won in 14 only,” said the BJP leader.

    The leader pointed out that the BJP’s CAA narrative proved double-edged.

    “Where the Matuas and Rajbanshis supported us on the citizenship issue, the Dalits in the backward region of Junglemahal did not. The TMC’s campaign opposing the CAA managed to win the poor Dalits, who were scared of the citizenship act as most of them do not possess basic documents other than the Epic Card,” he said. 

  • Bengal polls: PM Modi to visit Matua shrine in Bangladesh

    Express News Service
    KOLKATA: Bangladesh has a role to play in the high octane Bengal polls.

    Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to visit the neighbouring country and likely to offer respect at the shrine of Harichand Thakur, the founder of the Matua sect, at Orakandi in Gopalganj district on March 27, the day when the state goes to the first of the eight-phase elections. 

    Modi’s move is said to be a smart one ahead of the Assembly elections to woo the Matua electorates, who are a deciding factor in at least 35 seats in the north and south Bengal.

    However, it is yet to be decided whether BJP MP from Bongaon Shantanu Thakur, who is a representative of Matuas, will accompany Modi.

    The saffron camp’s high-command is trying hard to retain the support of Matuas, which is an SC community. Due to the Matuas’ support, the BJP could bag 18 seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. The BJP had promised the followers of the sect, who had migrated from Bangladesh since the Partition, that they would be given citizenship by implementing the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.

    “Recently, a section of Matuas expressed their discontent for the delay in giving them citizenship. Union Home Minister Amit Shah, during a recent visit to the sect’s headquarters in Bongaon, said the delay was triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic and assured to start the process after the completion of the ongoing vaccination programme. The Prime Minister visit to the shrine of the founder of the sect in Bangladesh will definitely help us to woo the followers of Harichand Thakur,” said a senior BJP leader.

    Sources in the party said Modi will reach Bangladesh on March 26, the country’s Independence Day. He also expressed his desire to visit Tungipara where Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman lies buried and the visit has been scheduled for March 27. The shrine of Harichand Thakur is not far from Tungipara.

    Matua sect originated in Bangladesh as a result of the religious reformation movement by the followers of Harichand Thakur, who born in a peasant family, in the then greater Faridpur, Bangladesh. After 1947, the followers formed the second organisation in Thakurnagar iin Bongaon, North 24-Parganas. Matuas migrated from Bangladesh to Bengal in two phases, after Partition in 1947 and Bangladesh war in 1971, and settled mainly in the India-Bangladesh border region spreading from north Bengal to south Bengal.

  • CAA will be enforced after Covid vaccination ends: Amit Shah

    By Express News Service
    KOLKATA: Union Home minister Amit Shah on Thursday announced that the Centre will start giving refugees including the Matuas citizenship by implementing the Citizenship (Amendment) Act once the Covid-19 vaccination is over across the country

    While addressing the much-awaited rally at Matuas’ headquarters at Thakurnagar in North 24 Parganas’ Bongaon, Shah hinted that the CAA’s implementation would not begin before the upcoming Assembly elections.

    “West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has been misleading refugees who migrated from Bangladesh due to religious persecution saying our citizenship promise before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections was a false one. I want to give her a message that what we promise, we execute in reality. I want to assure the Matuas that the process of giving citizenship will start once the coronavirus vaccination is over in the country,” said Shah.

    Hitting out at the Bengal CM, Shah further said, “Mamata didi was very happy after my visit was cancelled. She started misleading people that I will not come here again. I am making it clear that I will be visiting Matuas’ place on several occasions in near future. She is saying that her government will not allow CAA in Bengal. But I want to tell you she will not be in a position to stop us from implementing CAA here because by that time she will not be the CM of West Bengal and her party will be overthrown.”

    Matuas, a Dalit community, has always been the target of political parties as they dominate in least 36 Assembly constituencies spreading from north to south Bengal. The BJP secured en bloc support of the community in 2019 general elections promising them citizenship.

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    In a bid to retain Matuas’ vote-share in the saffron camp’s fold, Shah made a slew of promises, including tourist centre at Thakurnagar, pension for refugees, welfare schemes and new name of Thakurnagar railway station, if BJP comes to power in Bengal.

    Assuring the Muslim electorates, considered as the ruling Trinamool Congress’s support base, Shah said there would be no clause in the CAA that takes away the citizenship of minorities.

    Eyeing the vote bank of Rajbanshi tribe, who form around 30% of total electorates in the northern part of the state, Shah announced a new Narayani Sena Battalion in the paramilitary forces and the training centre will be named after Veer (brave) Chila Roy (the prince and younger brother of king Nara Narayan of Koch dynasty).

    Shah was referring to Narayani Sena that existed in the erstwhile Cooch Behar kingdom.

    Shah announced that after wresting power in Bengal, the BJP-led government will set up a Rajbanshi cultural centre, a 500 crore project, and a temple in the name of Panchanan Burma, a Rajbanshi cleric and leader of the community.

    Reiterating the saffron camp’s Hindutva rhetoric, Shah hit out at the Bengal CM and said, “Mamata didi gets angry if Jai Shri Ram slogan is raised. Where should the slogan be raised? Definitely here, not in Pakistan. She (Mamata) will have to raise the same slogan by the time the upcoming Assembly elections are over.”

    Reacting to Shah, Mamata Banerjee said her government would not allow CAA in Bengal. Without naming the Union Home Minister, Banerjee, while addressing a gathering in Kolkata, said, “He is coming from Delhi and threatening people of Bengal physically. He is crossing his limits. We will not allow CAA in Bengal as the refugees are already citizens of the country.” 

  • Amit Shah likely to address Matuas to quell discontent ahead of West Bengal polls

    Express News Service
    KOLKATA: Union Home minister Amit Shah is likely to visit Thakurbari, the headquarters of the religious organisation of the Matuas at Bongaon in North 24 Parganas, to address the community comprising Hindu refugees from Bangladesh on the implementation of the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).

    The Matuas have been insisting that Shah visit their headquarters and let them know by when their demands for citizenship can be met.

    Shantanu Thakur, the MP from Bongaon representing the Matuas, said the community is confused about when the CAA will be implemented and they will gain citizenship – a promise that the BJP had made before 2019 Lok Sabha elections and which had secured them the votebank of the Matuas.

    The confusion among the community was exacerbated after both Shah and BJP’s national president JP Nadda, during their Bengal visit, dodged questions related to the party’s citizenship promise for Hindu migrants from Bangladesh. Both the national leaders said the process of CAA’s implementation was getting delayed because of Covid-19 pandemic.

    Thakur, on several occasions in the recent past, expressed his discontent saying if his party doesn’t keep its promise before the upcoming Assembly elections, no one can say what the Matuas’ political alignment in the upcoming election will be. To pacify Thakur, senior BJP functionaries in Bengal had held a meeting with him.

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    “Matuas are waiting to hear from Shah as he played the key role to get the contentious act passed in both the houses of Parliament,” said Thakur.

    The BJP’s national leadership decided to send Shah to Bongaon as Matuas and Dalits, who also migrated from Bangladesh and do not belong to the community, have a strong presence in some of the pockets of the state and can change the political landscape in at least 55 Assembly seats.      

    In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the Matua community voted en bloc for BJP candidates. Thakur bagged his win with a margin of more than one lakh and Ranaghat MP Jagannath Sarkar won with a margin of more than two lakh votes. 

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    Eyeing the votebank, Trinamool Congress chief and Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee addressed a rally in Bongaon and announced a slew of benefits and projects for the Matuas.