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New Delhi, Nov 5 (IANS) Addressing a rally organized by West Bengal’s ruling Trinamool Congress against the Election Commission’s implementation of the Special Intensive Revision of Voter List (SIR), Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee linked the process to the National Register of Citizens (NRC).
In his speech, it was mainly the allegation that SIR in particular would disenfranchise two crore voters of the state and many would be put into detention camps, which surprised many.
This reference was made keeping in mind the large group of voters from the Matua community, who are wary of the SIR ousting them from safe havens where they had taken refuge after fleeing religious persecution in East Pakistan that continued into Bangladesh.
The Matuas are Namasudras, who constitute more than 17 percent of the Scheduled Castes (SC) in West Bengal. Although many of its estimated population of three crore have been granted citizenship – it has representatives including a Union Minister of State, a Minister of State and a Rajya Sabha member – most are still awaiting status in the absence of proper documentation.
Their fears were further heightened by the move to implement NRC in neighboring Assam, as many Hindus were reported to be in detention camps awaiting deportation due to incomplete documents.
Persistent political narratives around such devices – alternatively framed as remedial, security measures, or instruments of exclusion – have induced fear arising from uncertainty, particularly among Matuas.
In West Bengal, the community holds influence over several seats in districts such as North 24-Parganas and adjacent Nadia.
Matua voters constitute around 45 per cent of voters in at least 17 constituencies. Ten of these seats are in North 24-Parganas while the remaining seven are in Nadia, which are part of Bongaon and Ranaghat Lok Sabha constituencies.
The Matuas have historically been supporters of Trinamool, the ruling party in West Bengal, but since the aggressive pitch of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the death of their matriarch, a section of the community has switched allegiance, hoping that the implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) will benefit them.
After making impressive gains in the 2019 assembly elections in Matua-dominated constituencies, the BJP faced a decline in votes in Lok Sabha seats comprising Matua-dominated assembly constituencies due to the re-emergence of the NRC controversy.
Now, political narratives linking SIR to NRC have given rise to reports describing “skepticism; bewilderment; anger” at the grassroots level because SIR would require many people to submit evidence or risk not being named in the 2002 list.
Most Matuas have Aadhaar and voter ID cards but fear they will become “meaningless” during the SIR exercise. To allay their fears, Shantanu Thakur, minister of state in the Union Cabinet and a member of the community, has promised to help any Matua lacking valid documents to obtain citizenship status through the CAA.
There is a double-edged sword. While the absence of appropriate documentation may deprive them of voting rights during SIR, applying for CAA would mean being recognized as a non-resident and losing not only adult franchise but also many facilities they could avail through Aadhaar, ration cards, etc.
Meanwhile, Shantanu’s aunt, Mamata Thakur – a Rajya Sabha MP representing Trinamool – has launched an agitation against the SIR, with her followers starting an indefinite fast on Wednesday.
Just a day earlier, a third pole emerged in the community with the launch of the third Matua Frontal organization by Subrata Thakur, Shantanu’s brother and BJP MLA from Gaighata. His move is reportedly an attempt to step out of his brother’s shadow.
Even though West Bengal is scheduled to go to polls in the first half of 2026, it seems likely that SIR will remain the top electoral agenda, at least until the final revised list is made public – as was the case in Bihar. Until then, the echo will continue to haunt the Matuas – among whom there are still millions of unknown people.
–IANS
JB/Red