Thakurnagar (North 24 Parganas): Loudspeakers blare announcements, makeshift stalls line the narrow lanes, and streams of men and women clutching wrinkled papers queue under tarpaulin shades. It feels like a fair. The air is thick with dust, sweat, and anticipation. The crowd is headed toward the Thakurbari, the spiritual heart of the Matua community in West Bengal. 

The queue is made up of Matua people waiting to apply for a religious identity card.

Inside, the scene is of a political campaign office rather than a shrine. Volunteers sit behind rows of wooden tables, checking Aadhaar cards, voter identity cards, and faded refugee documents.

From the loudspeakers, a voice repeats: “Hindu identity cards are being issued here. With this card, applying under the Citizenship Amendment Act and for Indian citizenship will be easier.”

Inside the natmandir, the temple area, eight desktop computers hum.

Each applicant pays Rs 50 or Rs 100, submits two photographs, and provides any identification available. They are assured they will receive a card.

“First, we make a Matua Mahasangha eligibility card. Then, using Aadhaar and photographs, a Hindu identity card is issued within a month,” said Binoy Biswas, BJP’s district vice-president and a leader of the Matua Mahasangha. 

By mid-morning, the narrow lanes leading to the makeshift tents in Thakurnagar are already clogged. Men and women wait in long queues under tarpaulin shades, sweat soaking through cotton sarees and faded shirts. For those standing in line, the fee is incidental. What matters is the card itself – an unofficial document that promises a measure of protection in the uncertain terrain of citizenship.

Shefali Mondal, a woman from Gopalnagar, says, “I believe this card will be our shield because it’s being issued under the name of a Union minister.” 

'A union minister'

This camp is run by the All India Matua Mahasangha, led by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP and  Union Minister of State, Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways Shantanu Thakur and his brother Subrata, descendants of the community's founding family Harichand Thakur.

While the cards issued by Santanu's camp are pink in colour, Subrata's camps are issuing yellow cards. Both call it a Matua card and claim that the cards prove their holders' Hindu identity.

“Our people are spread across India and Bangladesh. We give them a Matua card as an identity document. The Hindu card certifies their religion,” Subrata Thakur tells The Wire. In the past few weeks, thousands have passed through the camp. “Earlier, not many cared about the CAA. But now, people don’t want their voting rights to be lost. That’s why you see such a rush,” he added.

Initial 'eligibility certificates' being issued are printed on the letterhead of the All India Matua Mahasangha. These state that the applicant is a member of the Matua Mahasangha and clearly mention which country they were previously citizens of.

The Union government has extended the cut-off date under the Citizenship Amendment Act, allowing Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh who entered India till December 31, 2024, to stay without valid travel documents. The order, issued under The Immigration and Foreigners Act, 2025, offers relief to post-2014 migrants fearing deportation. 

Asked why the camps continue even after the CAA rules were amended earlier, Subrata Thakur said the drive will not stop. “Even those without documents will be given the card. The party will take care of it,” he said. 

Ambiguity hangs over the money collected from applicant. It is unclear how these funds are used or whether they are subject to any audit processes.

The logistics are meticulous, though. Volunteers, working from 7 am to 9 pm, digitise each application. Applicants must submit two photographs, an Aadhaar card or government ID, and wherever possible, proof of residence in Bangladesh. 

The ‘Matua card' trigger

The cards issued to the Matua community are not proof of citizenship and do not confer any citizenship or legal rights. Yet thousands line up for it, convinced it will shield them from bureaucratic erasure.

“To apply under CAA, a religious certificate is necessary, and that’s what we’re providing here. Our organisation has 5 lakh active members and 10 lakh general members – these are the people receiving Hindu certificates. There’s nothing unethical in this,” BJP MP Santanu Thakur tells The Wire.

However, for the thousands of Matua members who migrated from East Pakistan and Bangladesh and still lack official documentation despite decades in India, the cards are a vital symbolic guarantee. They serve as a powerful reassurance that their claims to Indian citizenship will not be dismissed or ignored when questioned.

“The Hindu ID card isn’t free. I was told to come back after the puja to collect it. They would inform me over the phone how much more money I’ll need to pay,” said Dinesh Biswas, who came to the camp from Ranaghat, 53 kilometres away. 

The timing of the drive is not accidental. The Election Commission initiating the special intensive revision of electoral rolls has fuelled rumours of exclusion in the community, leading to widespread fear that residents without adequate proof could be struck off the voter lists. BJP has positioned the CAA as a safeguard, making the identity cards a visible token of that citizenship promise.

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A community of voters

The Matuas, followers of 19th-century reformer Harichand Thakur, are Bengal's second-largest Scheduled Caste group. Successive migrations from Bangladesh have given them significant political sway across 30 to 45 assembly constituencies.

Representing over 17% of the total Scheduled Caste population and 3.84% of the state's overall residents, the community's influence is particularly concentrated in the adjacent districts of Nadia, North 24 Parganas and parts of Jalpaiguri.

BJP's aggressive outreach to the Matuas was critical to its 2019 Lok Sabha gains in Bengal and further inroads into North 24 Parganas and Nadia in 2021. But loyalty remains uncertain. The Trinamool Congress successfully recovered ground in the 2023 panchayat elections and BJP's winning margins in major Matua Lok Sabha seats had dropped compared to 2019, suggesting a shift in political dynamics despite the focus on citizenship.

The TMC, for its part, has countered that the CAA is less about inclusion and more about dividing Bengalis. 

“How can anyone issue a religion certificate like this? The Citizenship Act doesn’t mention taking any such religious certificate. They are trapping people – especially Bangladesh-origin Hindus – by making them submit documents and addresses,” said Mamata Bala Thakur, TMC Rajya Sabha MP and the head of the rival faction of the family.

“We were born here, but our birth certificates were lost long ago,” said Liton Debnath from Habra. “Now the government is trying to expel people who have come from Bangladesh. That’s why we’re in line – to get a Hindu card proving we belong here.”

It is in that gap – between paper guarantees and lived insecurity – that Bengal's political battles are now unfolding. 

With inputs from Aparna Bhattacharya.

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