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Bengal polls: Despite wooing by both BJP and Trinamool, Matuas choose to split votes
Besides Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and other senior leaders held a series of public meetings in Matua areas.
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Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP State President Dilip Ghosh seen eating lunch with a Matua family at their residence at Gouanganagar in Kolkata. (File Photo | PTI) By PTI
KOLKATA: The Bharatiya Janata Party in its electoral mathematics for Bengal had counted on the 3 million strong Vaishnavite Matua community spread over the districts of Nadia, South and North 24 Parganas as a major vote bank, with the Prime Minister taking time not only to pay repeated visits to Matua dominated constituencies but even to a Matua shrine in neighbouring Bangladesh.
Updated:
April 23, 2021 16:26 IST
The Matuas became a significant political entity after the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2003, came into being
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The Baruni fair procession in Thakurnagar, the holy site of Matuas in North 24 Parganas. | Photo Credit:
Debasish Bhaduri
The Matuas became a significant political entity after the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2003, came into being
On a sultry April day, Thakurnagar, the holy site of Matuas in the Bongaon sub-division of West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district bordering Bangladesh, sizzles with banners of rival political parties asking for votes. As if indifferent to the ongoing political tension and the pandemic threat, a boisterous religious rally makes its way through the town, with men jumping as high as they can and women rolling on the roads. The sound of drums gets deafening. Every participant seems to be in ecstasy.
Poll verdict in Matua bastions crucial for BJP before CAA implementation
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Last Updated: Apr 21, 2021, 12:07 PM IST
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Synopsis
Matuas, who make for a large chunk of the state s Scheduled Caste population, had been migrating to West Bengal since the 1950s, primarily due to religious persecution in erstwhile East Pakistan and then Bangladesh. Prime Minister Narendra Modi meets Shantanu Ji and other members of the Matua community, in Orakandi
With citizenship for refugees having emerged as one of the poll planks of the BJP in its battle for Bengal, Matua bastions and the verdict they present this election will prove to be a test case for the party that had been weighing the pros and cons before implementing a new law enacted for the purpose.
Bengal elections: Poll verdict in Matua bastions crucial for BJP before CAA implementation
Assembly seats in the Matua strongholds of Bongaon and Krishnanagar, close to the India-Bangladesh border, are set to go to polls in the sixth phase of elections, on April 22.
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Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP State President Dilip Ghosh seen eating lunch with a Matua family at their residence at Gouanganagar in Kolkata. (File Photo | PTI) By PTI
BONGAON/KRISHNANAGAR: With citizenship for refugees having emerged as one of the poll planks of the BJP in its battle for Bengal, Matua bastions and the verdict they present this election will prove to be a test case for the party that had been weighing the pros and cons before implementing a new law enacted for the purpose.