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It is astir karma and dharma. Subrata Thakur is acold much astatine easiness erstwhile asked astir the principles of the Matua assemblage and however its past evolved from the days of Harichand Thakur and Guruchand Thakur.Subrata, grandson of P R Thakur and Matua matriarch Baroma Binapani Devi, explains however his household prioritised not lone societal dignity but besides acquisition and employability to guarantee the community’s rise. P R Thakur, incidentally, was the archetypal barrister from the disadvantaged Namasudra community. TOI caught up with Subrata astatine the sprawling Thakurbari field successful Thakurnagar, Gaighata, successful North 24 Parganas, wherever helium is the sitting MLA and BJP campaigner for the April 29 election.But this predetermination is trickier than the earlier ones for him and different BJP leaders successful the Matua belt. Along with the harsh April sun, they are facing the governmental vigor from wide voter-list deletions nether SIR.Subrata does not contradict the unease. But helium insists these are not genuine exclusions, saying astir cases person linkages to the earlier SIR successful 2002. According to him, the occupation was caused by glitches, missing uploads and governmental sabotage.
The BJP, helium says, is helping radical capable Form 6 and get their names restored.His connection to the assemblage is elemental that bash not panic, you are harmless successful India, CAA is there, and the BJP volition get your names back.Then comes the enactment that whitethorn specify the BJP’s defence successful this belt.“When you cleanable your house, sometimes a fewer glasses get broken,” helium says. Subrata describes however the assemblage was shaped by Partition, migration, exile beingness and the agelong conflict for documents.
Even aft 7 decades since Independence, that conflict has not afloat ended.The numbers explicate wherefore the anxiousness is real. Across the 142 Assembly seats voting successful the 2nd phase, 12,87,622 electors were deleted during judicial adjudication. In North 24 Parganas, the territory with the sharpest Matua concentration, 5,91,252 voters were placed nether adjudication and 3,25,666 were declared ineligible.In the Bongaon belt, the harm is politically sharper. In Gaighata, the second-phase tally puts judicial-adjudication deletions astatine 19,638.
Bagdah saw 5,890 exclusions retired of 13,459 flagged cases, with full deletions successful the constituency touching 15,303 from an electorate of 2,63,142. TOI has earlier reported that 36,000 of those removed successful the 4 Matua-heavy constituencies beryllium to the community. In Nadia, Matua dominated Ranaghat North East and Ranaghat South saw 20, 796 and 17,411 deletions.CAA, often offered arsenic a lifeline, is much analyzable connected the ground.
The assistance centres connected the Thakurbari field wore a desolate look. Some section voices accidental applications are stuck successful a bottleneck. Others accidental galore Matuas person not applied due to the fact that doing truthful would consciousness similar an admittance that they are not already citizens of India.When asked astir the delay, Subrata says the Union location ministry is doing elaborate cross-checking.This is present the BJP’s larger transportation successful the Matua belt. Narendra Modi and Amit Shah person some returned to the Matua question successful caller days, promising citizenship, documents and information to refugee-origin Hindu families.
PM Modi invoked his sojourn to Orakandi successful Bangladesh, the birthplace of Harichand Thakur, and promised citizenship for Matua and Namasudra families. Amit Shah has blamed Mamata Banerjee for the deletion of Matua names and accused TMC of spreading fear.TMC has turned the aforesaid contented into a betrayal charge. At Haringhata, Abhishek Banerjee accused BJP of humiliating and depriving Matuas aft promising them citizenship and jobs.
He said BJP was shedding “crocodile tears” for the assemblage and claimed TMC had stood by deleted voters, from SIR form-fill-up kiosks to the Supreme Court.Mamata Banerjee has framed SIR arsenic a larger individuality battle. On the run way successful Chakdah, Bongaon and Habra, she called the workout a “got-up game” and compared it to a Chaitra sale, saying immoderate members of a household were connected the rolls portion others were not. In Kolkata, portion wrapping up her campaign, she asked voters to “stand successful a enactment erstwhile more” and usage the ballot to thatch BJP a lesson.Subrata rejects the charge. He says the fearfulness is being manufactured by TMC, which is telling radical that those whose names are missing volition beryllium driven away. He besides accuses the Mamata Banerjee authorities of helping Bangladeshis with fake documents.He past returns to Matua history. He speaks of a clip erstwhile Matuas were denied dignity, treated arsenic Chandals, pushed to the margins of villages and denied the close to worship with respect.
He invokes Harichand Thakur and Guruchand Thakur, saying the question was built not lone astir religion but besides astir education, enactment and self-respect.That past is cardinal to the authorities here. The Matuas, mostly drawn from the Namasudra caste and with roots successful present-day Bangladesh, recovered successful Thakurnagar some a spiritual centre and a governmental anchor. Subrata says his gramps P R Thakur, portion being portion of Congress, ensured large betterment successful infrastructure and acquisition successful the area.
But helium blames the non-extension of the Nehru-Liaquat pact for leaving those who came aboriginal struggling for citizenship.Over the past fewer elections, BJP has tapped into this insecurity done the committedness of CAA. The effect was clear. In 2021, BJP swept the 4 Matua-heavy Assembly seats successful the Bongaon subdivision which are Gaighata, Bagdah, Bongaon North and Bongaon South. In the 2024 Lok Sabha predetermination too, it led successful each four.
It besides performed powerfully successful Matua-dominated pockets of Nadia.The Matuas, the second-largest Scheduled Caste radical successful Bengal, are estimated to power 50 to 70 Assembly seats. But this time, BJP is defending that basal nether pressure.Subrata underplays Mamata’s outreach to the community. He says she came to Baroma earlier 2011 due to the fact that she needed Matua votes, but aft consolidating Muslim support, the Matuas became dispensable to her.On the ground, the temper is mixed. Some voters accidental their names are intact and BJP volition recover. Others accidental 1 household subordinate has been deleted portion the remainder remain. Some inactive spot BJP to hole the problem. Others accidental galore of those affected were BJP supporters, and choler implicit deletion whitethorn present propulsion a conception towards TMC. The temper successful Thakurnagar conscionable extracurricular the field besides felt sombre.There is besides the Thakurbari split.In Gaighata, Subrata Thakur is contesting for BJP. In adjacent Bagdah, BJP has fielded Soma Thakur, woman of Union curate Shantanu Thakur, against sitting TMC MLA Madhuparna Thakur, girl of Rajya Sabha MP Mamata Bala Thakur.
Shantanu is Subrata’s younger brother. The once-undivided Matua Mahasangha is present divided into factions, and Mamata Bala’s faction has not endorsed CAA for its followers.So this is not lone BJP versus TMC. It is besides a conflict wrong Bengal’s astir influential Matua family.In Thakurnagar, the question is not lone whether the names return. It is whether spot returns with them.For years, BJP told Matuas it would extremity their uncertainty. SIR has brought that uncertainty backmost into the campaign.That is wherefore Subrata’s enactment whitethorn linger. “When you cleanable your house, sometimes a fewer glasses get broken.” Broken solid ever leaves a mark. Whether it leaves a scar connected BJP’s fortunes volition beryllium answered connected May 4.
