It’s just not Mamata Banerjee, Abhishek Banerjee, or any other Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader. A family feud is also making the BJP anxious in West Bengal, with less than a year to go for the all-important Assembly polls, which will test its mettle in the heat of an electoral battle.
The leadership of the politically influential Matua Dalit community, with its headquarters 90 km from Kolkata in Thakurnagar in North 24 Parganas district, appears split, this time between brothers, both of whom are BJP legislators. While Bangaon MP Shantanu Thakur is the Union Minister of State of Ports, Shipping, and Waterways in the Narendra Modi government, his elder brother Subrata is the MLA from Gaighata, one of the Assembly segments in Bangaon. While the brothers previously have been at odds with their aunt and TMC MP Mamata Bala Thakur, this is the first time they are feuding among themselves.
At the heart of the dispute are separate camps that the brothers organised to issue a “Matua card” or a ‘Hindu card/certificate” amid concerns in the community about a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls that is expected to be held in the poll-bound state. For them, acquiring these papers is the first step in securing citizenship under the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, something that will shield them when the SIR comes around. Millions of Matuas predominantly migrated to West Bengal from present-day Bangladesh from 1950 till after Bangladesh came into existence and several of them do not have citizenship papers. The second-largest Dalit group in the state today, their support for the CAA and, by extension, the BJP is what led to the party winning 18 seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. It was the BJP’s best-ever performance in a parliamentary election in the state.
First, Subrata, the elder brother, set up a camp in front of Thakurbari, the family home in Thakurnagar that acts as the headquarters of the All India Matua Mahasangha, whose current president is Shantanu. Seeing this, the Union Minister followed suit and set up a camp in the vicinity.
However, the fight between the brothers intensified after Shantanu moved his camp to the nearby Nat Mandir, the religious, spiritual and cultural centre of Matuas.
As Subrata raised objections and met their aunt Mamata Bala, who tried to play peacemaker, Shantanu accused his elder brother of engaging in “theatrics” and plotting to join the TMC. The Gaighata MLA, in response, accused the Bangaon MP of running an extortion ring in the Matua Mahasangha and embezzling money.
“The Nat Mandir cannot be used for such purposes. Devotees come to pray there. When I objected, Shantanu warned that he would use his clout to deny me a ticket for next year’s polls,” Subrata alleged.
However, Shantanu claimed there was “nothing wrong” with using the temple premises for the community’s welfare, alleging his brother was acting out of jealousy. “Subrata is jealous of my rise as a Union Minister. Realising he cannot become a minister as a BJP MLA in Bengal, he seeks to join the Trinamool,” he said.
The differences between the brothers have also split the Thakur family, with the brothers’ parents taking different sides. While their mother Chhabirani and Mamata Bala have backed Subrata, their father Manjul Krishna Thakur, a former minister in the TMC government who fell out with the party over a decade ago, has come out in Shantanu’s defence.
Chhabirani accused Shantanu of “depriving” Subrata and running the Matua Mahasangha “autocratically”. “I felt helpless and sought support from Mamata Bala as the family elder. Shantanu is ruling everything and Subrata is nowhere.”
“This incident is unfortunate. As chief ‘sebayet’, I gave permission Shantanu to hold camp at Nat Mandir. If Subrata has any problem, he can talk within the family. Why did he bring the TMC into this? I can’t allow that,” said Manjul Krishna.
Back in 2014, Manjul Krishna was the first one to break the political consensus in the family around backing the TMC following his elder brother and then Bangaon MP Kapil Krishna Thakur’s (Mamata Bala’s husband) death. Though he wanted the Bangaon seat for Subrata, the TMC fielded Mamata Banala and he broke away from the party along with his sons. This split the family between those allied to the TMC and those with the BJP. This is how the family was divided continued till now, when both the brothers in the BJP camp are up against each other.
The state government estimates that the Matuas form around 17% of the total vote bank in the state and have a good presence in 30 Assembly seats. The Matua community’s own estimate is around 20% of the vote bank, with a direct impact in 40-45 seats.
This illustrates why the Matuas and the Thakur family are important and why there is a deep sense of unease in the state BJP. According to insiders, the party has instructed its local leaders not to publicly discuss this dispute. “Both Shantanu and Subrata are important to us. So, we don’t want to take anybody’s side in this family feud. We are closely watching and hope things will cool down in time.”
