Nabin Das voted for the BJP during the Lok Sabha polls in 2019 and West Bengal assembly elections in 2021 – like most others in his Matua community – and switched to Trinamool Congress in 2023. He waited for five years for the Modi government to implement the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), hoping it would clarify his citizenship status.

“If we do not have card issued by the government, would that mean we would lose various allowances that we receive from the government?” asks Das, a transport worker from Gaighata, on the Bangladesh-India border, near Bangaon in North 24 Parganas district in West Bengal. 

In Bangaon, Mitali Biswas, a homemaker belonging to the same sect, has a very different take on the issue. A beneficiary of Mamata Banerjee government’s Lakshmir Bhandar incentive programme, she receives Rs 10,00 per month while her two daughters get Rs 1,000 each per year from the state-run Kanyashree scheme.

Grateful for the government support, Biswas makes her priorities quite clear, “What would happen with these cards and new regulations? It doesn’t matter when we came to this country, we vote. All our records like ration cards, voter ID and Aadhaar are ready with us. This is intimidation tactics for political gain!"

CAA and NRC

With elections looming, the CAA is again being brought to the fore by the BJP. Earlier this week, junior union ports and shipping minister Santanu Thakur had to retract his statement on CAA which he claimed would be implemented “within a week” at a public rally on January 28. Reportedly, he was admonished internally by the party following an outcry against CAA in the north-eastern states.

Currently forming the second largest scheduled caste group in West Bengal, comprising 3.8% of the total population, the Matuas have demanded the implementation of the CAA for years now and form one of the BJP’s biggest support bases in the state. The uncertainty over CAA has caused a feeling of disappointment and frustration among a significant portion of the community in North 24 Parganas and Nadia.

“If I refuse to listen to the diktats of any political party or leader, they threaten to tag me as an illegal settler from Bangladesh. Government officials arrive for inspections, demanding land documents, residency proof and various other certificates. We need to settle this through bribery. Perhaps a card could ease this harassment!” says Shyamali Sardar from the area.

“The fear that poor women are experiencing is a result of the BJP's propaganda. This is because individuals receiving rice obtain government funds via their bank accounts. Opening a bank account requires essential documentation from citizens, so the fear of discontinuing government aid is unfounded," says economist Prasenjit Bose, who for years has been campaigning among the Matuas on the fallacy of CAA. "In actuality, the BJP aims to introduce the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in the future, and the current measures or examinations are integral to that strategy.” 

Hindu identity and politics

The ‘Hindu identity card’ is once again being wielded by the BJP to win back Matua vote, a large section of which shifted to Trinamool Congress during the 2023 Panchayat elections. Santanu Thakur, BJP’s most prominent face and a descendant of Matua Mahasangha founder Harichand Thakur, asserts that they have issued a religion-specific identity document to Matua followers.

“Here, it's not about the NRC, it's solely about the CAA. The Matua Mahasangha has been issuing an identity card mentioning the religion of Matuas from the Matua Mahasangha. This will help the government scrutinise quickly and avoid inconvenience during the CAA implementation. Providing shelter to refugees is our duty,” states Thakur. 

However, on the ground at Bongaon, Thakurnagar, Gaighata, or Ranaghat, there are few takers for the card–issued by both factions of the organisation—headed by BJP's Shantanu Thakur and his aunt Trinamool Congress’s Mamatabala Thakur. Even, BJP MLA from Haringhata in Nadia district, Asim Sarkar, who belongs to the Matua community himself, has called it "bogus."  

Also read: Here's Why the BJP Brings up the CAA – But Stops Short of Implementing it – in Bengal

Srikanta Biswas, while agreeing with Sarkar’s viewpoint, sees the card as a form of insurance against potential harassment at his workplace in North India. A migrant worker from Gaighata, he always carries the card along with other government-issued identity proofs. He explains, “My religion is mentioned on the card. When police question us, suspecting us as Bangladeshi infiltrators, we show them the card which indicates we’re Hindus. This provides us with additional security.” 

'Infiltrators'

Matuas, predominantly belonging to the Namashudra community, migrated from East Pakistan and later Bangladesh due to religious persecution and communal tension. The Matua Mahasangha gained prominence after the Citizenship Amendment Act of 2003 when Trinamool Congress was in coalition with the BJP at the Centre. Since then Matua refugees have regularly faced suspicion of being ‘Bangladeshis’ or illegal infiltrators during registration for electoral rolls and issuance of documents. 

"We want a country free from infiltrators. We expect CAA to be implemented before the Lok Sabha Polls,” declares Thakur. 

In West Bengal, the BJP has been using refugee-infiltrator distinction to bring the lower caste Namashudra vote to their side by treating them as persecuted Hindu refugees, while projecting Muslims as encroachers from outside.

There are at least five Lok Sabha seats in North 24 Parganas and Nadia where the Matuas hold influence. In two of these seats, Bangaon and Ranaghat, the Matuas constitute over 40% of the electorate. The BJP won both the seats in 2019 and 14 of the 15 assembly seats in 2021 in the Matua belt of Nadia and North 24 Parganas. 

This success can be attributed largely to the suspicion and unease prevailing among substantial sections of the Hindu population, particularly the Matua community, over the minority population in the bordering districts, which the saffron camp labels as Bangladeshi Muslim infiltrators.

Narrative building

“The pro-Hindu narrative encoded in the CAA is aimed at consolidating the traditional Hindu vote bank of the BJP. There are two aspects of such calculations-one relate to the Namashudra-Matua community and the other pertains to the pro-Hindu messaging to the general Hindu population across the country,” says Ayan Guha, British Academy International Fellow, School of Global Studies, University of Sussex, UK who has authored a book on caste politics in Bengal called 'The Curious Trajectory of Caste in West Bengal Politics'.

Within the Matua community, however, there is a growing concern about prioritising Hindutva over social reform. The Matua sect was founded by Harichand Thakur in the 19th century in Bangladesh, on only three basic principles – truth, love and sanity. 

“Harichand Thakur’s son Guruchand Thakur, one of the early reformers preaching abolition of caste inequality, and gender equality through secular duties went to Muslim-run moktab when he was denied education for his caste. This politics over CAA is shocking. It’s clear that the ruling party at the centre is trying to fan Hindutva to polarise Hindu vote. But how can they overlook the history of the Matua movement against Manuvadi Brahminism?” asks Arun Mahapatra, the author of 'Matua Matadarsha Samajik Diker Koyekti Katha' ('Some Words on the Social Direction of the Matua Thought').

“It has now become more of a family fight. The politicisation of thakur bari has split the Matua Mahasangha. The cherished principles of Harichand and Guruchand Thakur are now being compromised in favour of Hindutva. We do not want this,” echoes local teacher Anupam Biswas. 

TMC 

The Trinamool Congress, which has lost considerable support within the community, has been banking on this discord to sustain momentum following its success in the 2023 Panchayat elections. The recent arrest of Jyotipriya Mallick in connection with a ration scam, however, has dealt a setback to the party. Since 2008, Mallick served as the bridge between thakurbari and the West Bengal chief minister. 

In Thakurnagar near Bangaon, preparations are underway for installation of a statue of Matua matriarch Binapani Devi, popular as 'Boroma'. There is a prevailing sense of uncertainty among the general public members over control of the organisation and CAA. 

“Our MP made false promises about granting citizenship. He hasn't done anything about it in five years. We want unconditional citizenship, or else we will start a hunger strike in Delhi. We believe that if Modi and the BJP come to power, it will be a disaster for the Matuas,” says former Trinamool Congress MP and a member of the Thakur family Mamata Bala Thakur. 

Kapil Krishna Thakur, a local Matua face from the left, was one of the first to raise voice against the Citizenship Amendment Act of 2003. He says, “Matua is not the problem; the obstacles posed by the citizenship law needs to be eliminated. In 2003, a new law was introduced defining illegal entry, and upon the President's agreement, the law was enacted. In 2019, the President again endorsed that law and made it more complex. We, on behalf of the All India Matua Mahasangha, demand the repeal of the CAA and NRC.”

Translated from the Bengali original by Aparna Bhattacharya.

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