SIR sparks panic in Bengal's Matua belt; BJP and TMC stare at losses

Kolkata, Oct 31 (PTI) As West Bengal braces for a fresh voter roll revision, panic, anger and suspicion ripple through the Matua heartland, leaving both BJP and TMC cornered in their most crucial refugee bastion amid fears of mass disenfranchisement under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR).

For the Matuas, a Hindu refugee community with a decisive presence in over 40 assembly seats across the border districts of North 24 Parganas, Nadia and parts of South 24 Parganas, the Election Commission's decision to conduct the first SIR since 2002 to weed out duplicate, dead, and ineligible voters, has revived anxieties over identity and citizenship.

Those not on the 2002 voter list must now furnish documents to prove eligibility. But, thousands of the Matuas have migrated from Bangladesh over decades, often without papers and this has unsettled not just the members of the community, but also the TMC and the BJP, long locked in a tug of war for their support.

Union minister and Bongaon MP Shantanu Thakur, the BJP's most prominent Matua face, tried to reassure them, saying, "There is no need to worry if names of refugee Matuas are deleted. They will get Indian citizenship under the CAA." But the statement failed to calm nerves. His aunt, TMC Rajya Sabha MP Mamata Bala Thakur, who leads the rival faction of the Matua 'first family', has called a meeting of community leaders at Thakurnagar in North 24 Parganas district on November 2 to chart the next steps.

"Names of Matuas will be deleted as many of those who came after 2002 lack documents and will lose voting rights. The Matuas have been voting for us after realising the BJP's citizenship jumla," she told PTI.

BJP MLA Subrata Thakur, Shantanu's brother, said, "Those who came between 2002 and 2025 won't be able to produce required papers. If they apply under CAA, we can appeal that their names be retained, but there is no guarantee as the EC is an autonomous body." Subrata estimated that 30-40 lakh refugees across the state may qualify under the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, and said the government was proceeding cautiously to ensure "genuine victims of persecution get citizenship, not infiltrators or Rohingyas misusing the process." Most Matuas have Aadhaar and voter cards but they fear those could be rendered meaningless during the SIR exercise.

"If they apply for CAA, they'll be first branded foreigners and lose voting rights. And in SIR, they will anyway lose their voting rights," said political analyst Suman Bhattacharya.

Internal mapping suggests 25-40 per cent of voters in the assembly segments under Bongaon and Ranaghat Lok Sabha seats could be affected if Matuas fail to link their names to the 2002 rolls. In parts of Krishnanagar and Ranaghat, where Matua voters form nearly 60 per cent of the population, leaders are voicing similar fears.

"The situation is one of confusion and anxiety. Both governments are talking, but neither is offering a clear solution," said Mahitosh Baidya, general secretary of the Matua Mahasangha.

He accused both the Centre and the state governments of "confusing and misleading" refugee Hindus. "There is no clarity even for those who came before 2014. Suppose someone came in 2005 or 2013, they don't have names in the 2002 voter list. Those who came after December 31, 2014, can't even apply under CAA. What will they do?" he asked.

Baidya said while around 400-500 citizenship certificates have been issued in North 24 Parganas, the number is negligible compared to an estimated one crore eligible applicants. "Even after decades, Matuas are still waiting for something as basic as certainty - the certainty of belonging to the land they have lived in for generations," he said.

Even within the BJP, cracks are visible. A CAA camp organised by the party in Kalyani was recently vandalised allegedly by a rival faction.

Matua leader and BJP MP Asim Sarkar warned the party could face a backlash.

"Nearly 15 lakh Matua and refugee people, who voted earlier, may lose their rights this time. Around 10 lakh of them voted for us, and others voted for TMC. The TMC that spread canards against CAA, stopping refugees from applying for it, must answer," he said.

While the TMC has publicly opposed the SIR, it remains wary of losing further ground in Matua-majority areas such as Bongaon, Gaighata, Swarupnagar, Ashoknagar, Krishnanagar Uttar and Dakshin assembly seats, where the BJP made deep inroads in 2019 and 2021.

"The SIR is unnecessary harassment of genuine citizens. People who have been voting for decades will now have to prove they are citizens. We're reaching out to Matua families to assure them that the state will protect their rights," said TMC leader Biswajit Das.

The BJP also launched a massive outreach, holding 1,000 CAA camps across border districts-North 24 Parganas, Nadia, Cooch Behar and Uttar Dinajpur. State BJP president Samik Bhattacharya said, "No Hindu refugee will be left behind. The TMC has spread misinformation about CAA for years." Party insiders said these four districts alone accounted for over half of the 77 assembly seats BJP won in 2021. The strategy is to reassure refugees that even if their names are struck off during SIR, they can reclaim rights under CAA and later return to the voter list.

But Das said, "You can't first erase someone's name from the voter list and then promise to restore it through another law. That's not reassurance, that's recycling uncertainty." PTI PNT NN