As SIR starts in Bengal, Matuas wary of exclusion from voter list amid fissures in ‘first family’

Even as most Matuas have Aadhaar and voter cards, they fear these could be rendered meaningless during the SIR exercise. The Matuas, mainly belonging to the Namasudra community, had migrated from East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) due to religious persecution and communal tensions.

While TMC’s Rajya Sabha MP Mamatabala Thakur’s supporters have sat on a hunger strike protesting against the SIR, BJP’s Union minister Shantanu Thakur and his brother have reached out to the community.

Shantanu Thakur, the Bongaon MP and the BJP’s most prominent Matua face, has repeatedly attempted to reassure the community on the matter, but his statements and assurances have failed to calm frayed nerves.

The Lok Sabha MP told The Indian Express, “The names of not a single Hindu will be deleted from the voter list.”

Meanwhile, Mamata Bala Thakur, who leads the rival faction of the Matuas’ “first family”, and her followers have called a hunger strike till death starting Wednesday in Thakurnagar against the roll revision exercise.

Speaking to The Indian Express, she said, “The names of many members of the community will be deleted due to lack of documents. They have voted for us and now it is our turn to protect them.”

Claiming that they are not against the removal of the names of fake or dead voters, she said, “But where will those who came here after 2002 and do not have any documents of their parents get it now? Their (BJP’s) main agenda is to remove them from the voter lists and nothing else. The Matuas will be affected the most by this. They (BJP) are saying that the community will be included through the CAA (Citizen Amendment Act) so why were we not included before and when not included then they should have included us first , if the names are striked of now then they won’t be on the electoral list.”

She further alleged the Matuas were being deprived of their rights by the BJP in a planned manner. “Shantanu along with PM Narendra Modi and others is trying to deprive the Matuas of their rights by calling them Bangladeshi Muslims and Rohingya.”

Had the Matuas been given citizenship there would not have been any protest or objections she said, adding, “In one family, every member has a different opinion but that should help reach the larger goal.”

Countering her claims, Shantanu Thakur said, “Those who are sitting on dharna against SIR are doing it for Bangladeshi Muslims, Rohingya and dead voters. The state government led by Mamata Banerjee supports Bangladeshi Muslims and Rohingya and wants to retain the dead voters in the list for its benefit. This is the reason Mamata Bala Thakur is joining the dharna. Their protest will not change anything — neither the implementation of the SIR or the Matuas getting citizenship through CAA .”

When contacted, BJP MLA Subrata Thakur said , “The Matuas have nothing to fear. CAA is there for them. The names of Hindus or Matuas will not be deleted from the list and they will get citizenship. Only the Rohingya and Bangladeshi Muslims will be detected and will eventually be deported.”

Three-way split at Thakurbari

With two main factions of the Matuas’ first family already in the thick of action over the SIR, the BJP-backed All India Matua Mahasangha (AIMM) has another splinter group headed by Shantanu Thakur’s elder brother and BJP MLA Subrata Thakur under the same banner.

This emergence of this faction months before the state Assembly polls is a result of the long-standing power struggle at Thakurbari.

Subrata Thakur said, “I had issues with some people from my brother’s camp but I do not have any problem with him. The new front is for the betterment and rights of the community.”

Shantanu Thakur, however, welcomed the new faction, saying, “It’s better if there are more committees in the family. There is nothing wrong with it.”

Mamata Bala said, “It is a family matter. There can be multiple groups. All I will say is that the son of the leader of the house is trying to get what rightfully is his. I thank him for his decision, but having the same decision is not right. He has spoken the truth about some people from Shantanu Thakur’s group.”

While the TMC has publicly opposed the SIR, it remains wary of losing further ground in Matua-majority areas such as Bongaon, Gaighata, Swarupnagar, Ashoknagar and Krishnanagar Assembly seats, where the BJP made deep inroads in 2019 and 2021.

Meanwhile, the BJP has launched a massive outreach campaign, holding 1,000 CAA camps across border districts of North 24 Parganas, Nadia, Cooch Behar and Uttar Dinajpur. State BJP president Samik Bhattacharya has said, “No Hindu refugee will be left behind. The TMC has spread misinformation about the CAA for years.”

Life under suspicion

The Matua Mahasangha gained prominence after the Citizenship Amendment Act of 2003. Since then Matua refugees have long faced the suspicion of being Bangladeshis or infiltrators during the registration for electoral rolls and issuance of documents.

In the state, the BJP has been using “refugee-infiltrator” distinction to bring the Namasudra vote to their side by recognising them as persecuted Hindu refugees.

There are at least five Lok Sabha seats in North 24 Parganas and Nadia where the Matuas hold influence. In two of these seats, Bangaon and Ranaghat, the Matuas constitute over 40% of the electorate. The BJP won both the seats in 2019 and 14 of the 15 Assembly seats in 2021 in the Matua strongholds of Nadia and North 24 Parganas.

The Matua sect was founded by Harichand Thakur in the 19th century in Bangladesh.

Over the decades thousands of Matuas have migrated to Bengal from Bangladesh, mainly without proper documentation.

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