Lok Sabha Elections 2024: Family feud and Matua politics go hand in hand in West Bengal's Bangaon
Thakur Nagar (Bangaon): Mamata Bala Thakur, along with her daughters and an infant grandson, is on a ‘fast unto death’, protesting against her ‘ouster’ from her home. The Trinamool Congress MP in the Rajya Sabha blames her ordeal on her brother-in-law’s son, Shantanu Thakur, a Union minister and the candidate of the BJP in the Bangaon Lok Sabha constituency of West Bengal.
"Shantanu Thakur and his associates broke into my home on April 7. I, along with my family, have been locked out of my own home. We are being forced to live in the kitchen and the storage,” says Mamata Bala, adding that she lodged complaints with police and even moved to court seeking justice.
"This is my family matter, and I wouldn’t talk to the media about it,” Shantanu tells DH before leaving for the venue of the election rally Union Home Minister Amit Shah would address later in the day to seek votes for him.
The feud within the first family of Thakur Nagar, however, is as much about politics as it is about the control of the All India Matua Mahasangha — the apex body of the Matuas, a Hindu sect that traces its roots to a reformist movement launched by Harichand Thakur at Orakandi in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) in the early 19th century. The sect comprises Namashudras, Chamars, and Malis, who had been treated as untouchables by the upper-caste Hindus of undivided Bengal.
To escape religious persecution, a large number of Matuas relocated to West Bengal and other parts of India over the decades, beginning with the Partition of 1947. They now account for nearly 17 per cent of the population of West Bengal and can influence the poll results in at least 10 of the total 42 Lok Sabha constituencies in the state.
No wonder then, both the TMC and the BJP are keen to woo the Matuas, as they have always been before any elections in the state. TMC supremo and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had often visited Thakur Nagar to meet ‘Boro Maa’ Binapani Devi, the matriarch of the community.
Just before the 2019 LS polls, Prime Minister Narendra Modi also visited Thakur Nagar and met ‘Boro Maa’ just weeks before her demise. He had also paid obeisance to Harichand Thakur during a visit to Orakandi in Bangladesh ahead of the 2021 Assembly elections in West Bengal.
The BJP now hopes that the notification of the rules of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) by the Modi government just before the LS polls will make the Matuas support the saffron party overwhelmingly. "People of the community have been suffering from insecurity, but the CAA rules will now allow them to apply for citizenship for a secure future. The overwhelming majority of the community has accepted it positively,” says Shantanu.
The TMC, however, warned the Matuas against applying for citizenship under the CAA rules and slammed the BJP government for offering the migrants from East Pakistan and Bangladesh “conditional citizenship”.
“Most people have Aadhaar, Voter ID cards, ration cards, and even passports. They are already citizens of India, but if they apply for citizenship, they will no longer remain citizens till the process is over,” Mamata Bala says as she leaves for an election rally to support Biswajit Das, the TMC candidate in Bangaon. She adds that most people will not be able to furnish the documents required for applying online for citizenship under the CAA rules.