The implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) has triggered a war of words between the BJP and the Trinamool Congress, with Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee calling it an “electoral stance that will make people foreigners”.
In Bengal, Matua voters are influential in five to six Lok Sabha constituencies. In Bongaon Lok Sabha constituency, five assembly constituencies have nearly 50 per cent Matua voters.
To understand the effect of CAA in Bengal, News18 travelled to Thakurnagar’s Thakurbari, the Matua headquarters, to read the pulse of the people.
History of Matuas
Matuas are classified as Scheduled Castes who fled Bangladesh and are refugees in India.
The history of the battle for citizenship in Bengal starts from Thakurbari and Hari Chand Thakur.
Hari Chand Thakur was born in 1812 in undivided India in a peasant Namasudra family. After a ‘self-realisation’ that he is an incarnation of God and needs to work for the downtrodden, he started the Matua sect with its headquarters in Faridpur.
After Partition, his grandson Pramatha Ranjan Thakur established the headquarters in Thakurnagar and built a temple dedicated to Harichand Thakur. PR Thakur was a Congress MP and began his fight for citizenship but could not see it to the end. The community has been pushing for citizenship for over 70 years now and it is only in 2024 that their dream has come true.
Matua Politics
Pramatha Ranjan Thakur was an MLA in Bidhan Chandra Roy’s Congress government and later an MP from the party.
After the Left Front government came to power, Matuas gained from the distribution of land and started supporting the Left.
Soon after, Mamata Banerjee started looking after “Baro Ma” Binapani Thakur, the wife of PR Thakur. It was in 2006 that then TMC minister Jyotipriya Mallick made Banerjee understand the significance of the Matua vote bank and the chief minister started development programmes for the community.
In 2014, Bina Pani’s elder son Kapil Krishna Thakur became a TMC MP. His brother Manjul Thakur also joined the party. However, Manjul Thakur left TMC abruptly and joined BJP in 2015.
It was during this period that the people of Thakurbari slowly shifted their allegiance to BJP and with the CAA promise, the Matua-dominated areas slowly turned saffron.
Mood of Thakurbari
As one enters Thakurbari, the chants of ‘Hari Bol’ fill the air. The Matua community leaders, called Dalapathis, play drums as they celebrate the Centre’s move to notify CAA rules by ringing in Holi early.
Priest of Harish’s Thakur temple Harindar Sarkar told News18: “For the past five years, I have been at this temple. I came to Bengal in 1979 due to the torture in Bangladesh. We have voter IDs but we were looked down upon by people. There was an insecurity in the community that anybody could drive us out. Now we feel safe.”
News18 also caught up with a young student offering prayers at the temple. When asked why the community was insistent on citizenship despite having a voter ID, Pratip Biswas said: “We don’t get government jobs because we don’t have papers. When we apply for passports, they ask for our parents’ papers before 1970. Till now, politicians played with us but we are happy that Modi-ji has finally helped us.”
Most of the people dancing to the beats of the drum were those who came to India in the 80s. Local Sukhendhu Gain said: “I came in 1986. Today, we have got our rights. We will continue this celebration. Whatever form they ask us to fill, we will.”
Not only Gain, Krishnapadha Choudhury and Nilratan Gosai too recall how they fled from Bangladesh in the 80s.
“CAA has secured our future. Whatever Mamata Banerjee is saying is not right. It’s our Independence Day,” Gosai said.
In Thakurbari, Banerjee’s assertion that she would give up her life but not allow CAA in the state did not find many takers. The chief minister is scheduled to hold an anti-CAA rally in Siliguri on March 13.
Speaking to News18, shipping minister and PR Thakur’s grandson Shantanu Thakur said: “Home Minister Amit Shah-ji called me and said special trainers will come to the state to help people fill forms. Banerjee is misleading the people. The state has no role in this.”
