TMC delegation meets members of Matua community on fast over SIR

Kolkata, Nov 16 (PTI) A TMC delegation on Sunday met members of the Matua community who are on an indefinite fast, protesting the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in West Bengal.

State ministers Shashi Panja and Snehasis Chakraborty, along with TMC state general secretary Tanmoy Ghosh, visited Thakurbari, the headquarters of All India Matua Mahasangha, in North 24 Parganas district and met those on fast.

Expressing solidarity, they said the TMC will not allow the removal of even one name of the community from the rolls.

"We have been continuously monitoring the situation regarding the concerns of the Matua community related to SIR. Today we have conveyed to them that we will fight till our last breath to see not a single name of the community member, who are bona fide Indian citizens, is disenfranchised due to SIR," Panja said.

She expressed concern over the health condition of many people who have fallen ill due to the fast.

TMC's Rajya Sabha MP Mamatabala Thakur, one of the leaders of the community, had joined the fast on November 5 but later withdrew.

Union minister Santanu Thakur, who also belongs to the community, said the names of not a single person who has valid documents would be removed from the rolls.

The members of the Namashudra community have migrated from Bangladesh since the 1950s following religious persecution, he said.

Thakur blamed the TMC for "misleading" Matuas. PTI SUS SOM