Scheduled Caste religious group with origins in Bangladesh is grappling with identity politics
On April 14, B.R. Ambedkar’s birth anniversary, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president J.P. Nadda held a road show in Bongaon town. The BJP, for which religious and sub-religious identities have emerged as the most crucial tool of the 2021 campaign in the West Bengal Assembly polls, the date and the place were well chosen.
Since the past two years, Bongaon, a sub-division in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district bordering Bangladesh, is witnessing a new identity politics around the Matua sect, a Scheduled Caste religious group with origins in Bangladesh.
Bengal: Local Issues, Candidate Choice and Polarisation Will Determine Who Wins North 24 Parganas
In the 2016 assembly elections, the TMC swept this district by winning 27 seats. What has change since?
Politics8 hours ago
Kolkata: North 24 Parganas district, adjoining Kolkata, is the largest district of West Bengal with 33 assembly constituencies. This district will play a key role in determining which party will form government in the state.
In the 2016 assembly elections, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) swept this district by winning 27 seats. The Congress and the Left won three each. However, by 2019, a lot of political changes took place in the district, which led to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) winning two out of five Lok Sabha seats or leading in 12 out of 33 assembly segments.
This is not 2019 and this is not the Lok Sabha elections. And it’s not hunky dory for the BJP anymore.
There is no apparent wave in its favour which will clean sweep all its opposition into the Bay of Bengal. Neither here in Bongaon, nor in the rest of the Bengal, though the BJP certainly has its share of committed, loyalist, or, silent and floating voters, including those who have been polarized, those who hate the Trinamool Congress for various reasons, and those who want some kind of change at the top. However, it is still not clear if that would help them cross the 100 mark in the 2021 assembly. Seasoned journalists say that even 80 could be tough.
Battleground Bengal: For the Matuas, This is Utsav time sabrangindia.in - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from sabrangindia.in Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.