6 months ago
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Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP and Matua person Shantanu Thakur’s caller remarks on Matuas ‘tolerating’ the deletion of 1 lakh names during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls sparked a governmental enactment betwixt the saffron enactment and the Trinamool Congress (TMC), triggering clashes between the 2 factions successful the Matua heartland of Thakurnagar in North 24 Parganas on Wednesday (December 24, 2025).
“If 50 lakh Rohingyas, Bangladeshi Muslims, and Pakistani Muslims are removed during the SIR exercise, portion 1 lakh of our ain people are required to halt voting for a while, wherever are we gaining more?” Mr. Thakur said astatine a BJP lawsuit successful West Bengal’s Hanskhali-Garapota on Monday (December 22).
Speaking to the property aboriginal astatine the aforesaid event, the MP from the Matua-heavy Bongaon Lok Sabha constituency further said that if 1 lakh Matua names were deleted from the electoral rotation during the SIR, past the assemblage should endure the ‘sacrifice’ for the involvement of their ain information against ‘those who utilized to terrorise them’.
It is worth noting that the Matua community—a sect of Namashudra Hindus who migrated from erstwhile East Pakistan (Bangladesh) to West Bengal after 1947—has been considered electorally inclined towards the saffron party, with the BJP winning the Lok Sabha spot doubly consecutively.
Till a fewer days back, the BJP leadership, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself, would periodically assuage the community’s concerns astir citizenship by assuring them of the same, done the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
On Wednesday (December 24), members of the assemblage astatine their spiritual office at Thakurnagar clashed among themselves on enactment lines. The Trinamool faction alleged that its members were attacked by the BJP supporters amid flaring tensions successful the area.
“He said it is alright for 1 lakh Matuas to suffer their votes truthful that 50 lakh alleged infiltrators tin beryllium removed. The radical of the assemblage staged a protestation today, seeking answers as to why they were told by the BJP that applying for CAA successful their camps with wealth and getting Hindu individuality cards made, would support their rights arsenic voters,” Trinamool Rajya Sabha MP and Matua person Mamata Bala Thakur said connected Thursday (December 25).
When the SIR began successful the State, the Leader of Opposition, Suvendu Adhikari, had urged Matuas to use for citizenship nether the CAA in assistance camps acceptable up by the BJP and assured them that their names would look connected the last electoral roll. On the different hand, a conception of Matuas under the enactment of Mamata Bala Thakur had gone connected hunger onslaught to reason SIR, claiming that the workout would disenfranchise members of the community.
The Hindu had earlier reported that several assistance camps had cropped up at Thakurnagar under the BJP’s patronage, wherever Rs 800 was being charged cumulatively for the online CAAV application, on with the necessary affidavits, Hindu certificates and Matua certificates.
However, connected December 9, the Supreme Court observed that the granting of rights under the CAA would beryllium connected verification of the applicant’s assertion of fleeing persecution.
The TMC attacked Shantanu Thakur in a social media post on Wednesday (December 24), accusing him of vacationing successful London during the enumeration signifier of the SIR.
“He publically said it is acceptable if 1 lakh Matua names are deleted. And now, helium denies work and refuses to answer for the deletion of Matua names from the draught electoral roll. Remember his name. Remember his mendacious promises. Remember who NOT to vote for successful 2026,” the station read.
According to information from the draught electoral rotation published successful West Bengal by the Election Commission connected December 16, assembly constituencies with a ample Matua colonisation recorded a higher percent of electors who could not establish a nexus with the 2002 voter list. These electors volition beryllium mandatorily called for hearings under the SIR. These constituencies include Gaighata (14.5% unmapped) and Bagda (12.6% unmapped) successful North 24 Parganas district, and Kalyani (11.92% unmapped) and Haringhata (7.1% unmapped) in Nadia district. In comparison, the State mean of unmapped voters is 3.9%.
