PM Modi touches feet of 'Baro Maa': Decoding significance of Matua voters in Bengal electoral battle

 The Matuas came from East Pakistan and later Bangladesh, in both Assam and Bengal post-Partition. The Matuas in Bengal, the second largest SC community in the state staunchly supports Mamata Banerjee. They are a critical vote bank in over 70 assembly seats over 8 districts in the state.

In Lok Sabha, Matua community completely controls the poll equation in Bangaon Lok Sabha seat, which is currently held by Mamata Thakur, who is daughter-in-lae of Boro Maa. 

PM Modi today held the rally in Thakurnagar. He said, "It is my good fortune that I've been able to speak in front of the Matua community. You have showered me with lots of love and respect.”

Thakurnagar is a village inhabited by the Matua community who settled from Bangladesh, the erstwhile East Pakistan after a religious reformation movement led by the late Harichand Thakur. Thakurnagar falls under the Bongaon constituency, housing more than 60% Matua voters.

With an estimated population of 30 lakh in West Bengal, they can influence results in at least five Lok Sabha seats in North and South 24 Parganas districts and Nadia.  However, many of them are claimed to have still not got Indian citizenship.

Modi's spirited defence of the Citizenship Bill in Matua heartland is apparently aimed at creating a new vote base for the BJP, just a couple of months or a little more ahead of the general elections.

Harichand thakur formed the sect primarily comprising of Namasudras way back in the nineteenth century. Facing religious persecution, a large number of Matuas left for present day West Bengal around 1950. They primarily settled in North and South Parganas, Nadia and some of them also resided in Malda, Coorch Behar and Dinajpur. 

Harichand Thakur's great-grandson is Pramatha Thakur. Pramatha Thakur who is Baro Ma's husband was in active politics for a long time. He has been an MLA since 1937 and set up the base of Matuas in Thakurnagar after buying large amount of property there. He became Minister in the state government in 1962 and even become Congress MP from Nabadweep soon after, but later renounced politics. 

From then, Matuas have consistently voted for Left Front till 2009, when Mamata Banerjee reached out to them. Mamata wanted to break the stranglehold of  Left in SC-ST community of Bengal and strategically reached out to Baro Maa. At that time, Matuas were disillusioned with Left and gave their support to TMC. 

Didi gave political clout and a new identity to Matua community. Baro Ma's son Kapil Krishna Thakur became MP from Bangaon. Later after his death, Kapil's wife Mamatabala Thakur became MP from that constituency. She  is also head of Matua Sangha. 

Baro Ma's another son Manjul Krishna Thakur was earlier with TMC. He was also a minister in the Mamata government. But later he had a fallout with Didi over Kapil getting prominence in the party. Now Manjul Thakur is part of BJP and his son Subarata Thakur is the chief of Bharat Matua Mahasangha, which has close ties with BJP. 

The prime minister's address to a rally of 'Matua Mahasangh', which is aligned to the BJP, came days after 10 political parties of the northeast, most of which are members of the BJP-led North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA), besides the JD(U), the saffron party's key ally in Bihar, decided to oppose the Bill, calling it detrimental to the interests of the locals.

He took a dig at the West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress party supremo Mamata Banerjee for opposing the Citizenship Amendment Bill. “Shouldn't those who have had to come back from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh be allowed to live respectfully in India? For them, we have introduced the Citizens Amendment Bill. But, the TMC is opposing it for no reason,” he said.

Many who are part of the Matua community came to India after Independence and are yet to get citizenship. For them, Citizenship Amendment Bill comes as a boon. According to Assam, nearly 8 lakh Matua names were excluded from NRC list in Assam. They too are hoping for a legal way to get citizenship.