Kamal Ghorui
NEW DELHI: Sharpening BJP’s outreach to the Matua community in the last leg of his Bengal poll campaign, PM Modi on Sunday offered prayers at Matua Thakur Temple in North 24 Parganas and reiterated at a public meeting his govt’s resolve to fast-track Indian citizenship for its members.In a message that emphasised his association with the sect, which was founded in Orakandi (now in Bangladesh) and has influence in over 32 assembly seats, mostly going to the polls in the second phase on April 29, Modi posted a picture of his 2019 meeting with its matriarch, Binapani Thakur.Matuas’ hearty endorsement of BJP was critical to its splendid show in the state in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls and then emergence as the main challenger to TMC in the 2021 assembly polls, but things have since cooled off a bit as Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee stepped up her efforts to woo its members and the much-vaunted Citizenship (Amendment) Act has not turned out to be as smooth an affair in the grant of citizenship to non-Muslim refugees as initially thought.TMC has long alleged CAA will end up harming Matuas by entangling them in a web of documents tracing their origin to Bangladesh, when most, for all practical purposes, already enjoy several rights in India. The party has cultivated its own leadership drawn from the community to chip away at BJP’s support base.In these polls, BJP brass has made a focused outreach to the community, capped by Modi’s visit to the temple and a meeting in its stronghold. Modi, who had also visited Orakandi in 2021, is generally held in high regard by its members.While the PM, in his rally on Sunday, asked Matuas and other Hindu refugees from Bangladesh not to pay heed to TMC’s claims, home minister Amit Shah and other BJP campaigners have been emphatic in underlining the party’s commitment to their welfare.
