Bengal’s Matuas wait and watch, refuse to take CAA bait as poll battle hots up

“I will apply for Indian citizenship under the Citizenship Amendment Act of 2019 after the elections,” Union Minister of State for Ports, Shipping and Waterways, Shantanu Thakur, told The Federal in a conflicting statement.

The BJP’s tallest Matua face in West Bengal is seeking re-election from the Bangaon Lok Sabha constituency, obviously on the basis of being an Indian citizen.

Why is it then that the sitting Union minister needs to apply afresh for citizenship?

Minister’s Matua outreach

The answer to this question lies in the debate around citizenship waged in West Bengal ever since the BJP-led Centre notified rules to implement the long-awaited Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA)-2019, which was part of the saffron party’s poll promise in the 2019 parliamentary elections and the 2021 assembly polls.

The debate has now reached a crescendo with the seven-phase polling in Bengal entering the Matua heartland.

Matuas are an estimated 30-million strong religious sect, mostly comprising scheduled castes. They are concentrated primarily in the North 24 Parganas and Nadia districts and in pockets of East Burdwan, South 24 Parganas, Hooghly and Cooch Behar districts. The community has influence over election results in at least eight Lok Sabha seats.

The dilemma over citizenship has been a prominent issue that has been bothering the socio-religious sect – founded by Harichand Thakur in the mid-1800s – ever since the term “illegal migrant” was inserted in India’s citizenship law in 2003 by then BJP-led NDA government.

With Matuas not entirely convinced with the touted benefits of CAA, thanks to the complicated application process and rejection of applications of many members from the community, Union minister Thakur, a Matua himself, has assured that he himself would apply for citizenship under the legislation to prove that it is not a sham, as the Trinamool Congress (TMC) alleges.

Citizenship conundrum

The amended law defined “illegals immigrant” as foreigners who have entered India either without valid documents or who initially had a valid document, but stayed beyond the permitted time.

This category of people was made ineligible for citizenship by registration or naturalisation. Their descendants born in India after July 1, 1987 and before December 3, 2004 are also barred from getting citizenship by birth if either of their parents was not a citizen of India at the time of the birth of the child.

Further, a person born in India on or after December 3, 2004 is considered a citizen of India by birth only if both the parents are citizens of India or one of the parents is a citizen of India and the other is not an illegal migrant at the time of the child’s birth.

These legal intricacies put a question mark on the citizenship status of thousands of people, particularly those who fled to India during the Bangladesh Liberation war. Thakur claimed around 1.75 crore Matuas took refuge in India during that period.

CAA a solace, but applying for it is not

To remove barriers in acquisition of Indian citizenship for Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians who “illegally migrated” to India due to religious persecution on or before 31 December 2014 from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan, the Centre enacted the CAA, also keeping an eye on Bengal’s Matua voters, a strong support-base of the BJP.

The notification of CAA rules by the Union Home Ministry just ahead of the announcement of elections in March this year led to more confusion than solution due to a complicated application process.

As reported by The Federal earlier, applying for citizenship needed documents – including proof of residency of the country of origin – that many members of the community said would be impossible to furnish.

The complicated documentation process has been preventing Matuas from seeking citizenship under the new law.

None from Bengal received CAA certificates

Thakur claims 10,000 people have so far applied for citizenship under the new law while Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee says none did. Also, no one from Bengal was reportedly among the 300 persons who got citizenship certificates in the first lot under the new law on Wednesday (May 15).

Only recent migrants, who came to India with valid documents could get citizenship under the new law, TMC’s Matua face and Rajya Sabha MP Mamata Bala Thakur told The Federal.

“This law in the current form is not intended to grant citizenship… It is to take away citizenship,” she added echoing her party’s position on the legislation.

Matus already citizens, don’t need CAA stamp: TMC

The TMC is of the view that Matuas who have been staying in the state for decades have automatically become citizens of India.

“Our people have voting rights, and have got properties, Aadhaar card, ration card, PAN card. Why would they take the risk of losing all these by applying for citizenship by declaring oneself as a foreigner?” she asked.

The TMC is trying to play on concerns over the fate of rejected applicants as the CAA rules are silent on rejections.

To allay the concern, Thakur said he would apply for the citizenship under CAA though he need not do so as his “grandfather migrated to India legally in 1948 and had possessed an Indian citizenship card.”

Why Union minister wants to apply for citizenship

“The TMC is misleading the people by propagating that the citizenship application would take away the existing rights of the applicants. Let me see what rights I lose by seeking citizenship,” he said.

This is not the first time Thakur is making such a claim, which many have called “absurd”. Immediately after the notification of CAA rules, he tried to assuage the concern of his community saying he would himself fill the 49-page online form. But later got cold feet, giving a handle to the TMC to corner the BJP on the citizenship issue.

Mamata Bala dared him to do so if he was so confident about the “benefits of the CAA.”

“By applying for citizenship, he would proclaim himself as a foreigner. As per the Indian law a foreigner is not entitled to even vote let alone contest elections and hold ministerial posts,” she said.

Matuas wait and watch

The war of narratives has further added to the confusion, forcing Matuas to take a wait-and-watch approach, leaving the parties uncertain about their likely poll preference.

They are not buying the TMC narrative that there is no need for validation of their citizenship. At the same time, they are not convinced about getting citizenship under the CAA 2019.

“Legally speaking, we do need Indian citizenship because the country’s citizenship law clearly says that those who have entered the country without valid documents are illegal migrants,” said Khokon Mandal, a resident of Thakurnagar under the Bangaon parliamentary segment.

“It is also true that as of now we have not faced any problem in getting entitlements meant for an Indian citizen such as voting rights,” said Mandal, whose family migrated to India in 1978.

Community wants application process simplified

He said they are scared to apply for citizenship under the CAA as they do not possess the documents required to fill the form.

Sachin Samaddar, who runs a sweet shop near Thakurnagar railway station shared the same concern. Samaddar is a member of the Matua sect despite being a general caste. His family migrated from Bangladesh’s Faridpur in 1980s.

Sensing the apprehension, the All India Matua Mahasangha has advised its members to abstain from submitting citizenship applications until the rules are simplified.

"Our party’s top leadership has been apprised of the ground situation and we expect the application process will be simplified,” said BJP’s Haringhata MLA Asim Sarkar endorsing the Mahasangha’s position.

But by the time the rules are simplified, if at all, the voters will have already given their mandate. The perception battle needs to be won before that.

Rolling out of citizenship to 300 people is now the BJP’s new talking point in its CAA narrative.

“Today 300 people are getting citizenship in Delhi. The Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians who have come from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan will get citizenship no matter whether they have documents or not,” Union Home Minister Amit Shah told a news agency on the CAA. Earlier, he described the move as “historic”.

Nevertheless, the CAA is still a non-starter is evident from the Home Ministry’s admission that only about 14,000 applications have been received since rules of the new law were notified on March 11.

TMC mellows down, pitches for ‘unconditional citizenship’

The poor response has however failed to ease the TMC nerves. The party’s blanket opposition to the CAA was not liked by many.

Realising this, the TMC is now scurrying to amend its position.

“If they (BJP) make it (granting citizenship) unconditional, I do not have a problem with it (the CAA). But they want to take away people’s rights,” Mamata Banerjee stated in a departure from her earlier stand that she would not allow implementation of the discriminatory citizenship law.

TMC general secretary Abhishek Banerjee too is now harping on “unconditional citizenship.”

The TMC is now watering down its earlier stand on the CAA conveniently as the implementation of the law has not led to any reverse polarisation among Muslims as was expected by it.

“The CAA is a toxic cocktail for the Muslims only if it is blended with the NRC. The CAA is not an issue among the minorities this time as there is no spectre of NRC attached to it,” said Israrul Hoque Mondal, president of the Bengal Madrasah Education Forum.

Matua ‘family feud’ takes political turn

In the absence of a clear impact of the CAA on voting choice, the battle in the Matua heartland is turning ugly.

Mamata Bala, the TMC’s Rajya Sabha MP, has alleged that she was “evicted” from her home with her two daughters and a two-year old grandson by Thakur.

“Shantanu with his central-force bodyguards and associates barged into my house on April 7 to take control of the room where Boro Ma (Matua community’s late matriarch Binapani Devi), used to reside. I was forced out of my room where I had been staying ever since I came as a bride in the Thakur family,” Mamata Bala said.

“I am now staying in the kitchen and storeroom of the house. To seek justice, I have moved the court. At the same time, I am also trying to draw the attention of the nation to the injustice by holding fast unto death along with my daughters. They (Shantunu Thakur and his aides) deny my children the rights over the Thakur family’s legacy just because they are daughters. Is this how the BJP treats women? Why are BJP top leaders silent about the discrimination?” she asked.

Thakur is the grandson of late Binapani Devi. Mamata Bala is her daughter-in-law.

Thakur refused to comment on the issue stating that it was his family matter. But it is more than just a family matter.

The room the union minister allegedly wanted to forcibly take control of was not just any ordinary place. It’s a sort of religious shrine for the Matuas.

It is in this room that Prime Minister Narendra Modi called on ‘Boro Ma’ to seek her blessings in February 2019 – ahead of the General Elections.

“The BJP MP will not have full control over Thakur-family legacy until Mamata Bala stays in the house of ‘Boro Ma’ in Thakurnagar,” a shopkeeper who resides near Thakurbari said, explaining the genesis of the dispute.

So long the Thakur family remains divided, neither of its branches will have complete domination over Matuas.

Hence, the dispute over the ‘Boro Ma’s room’ in the election season is more about politics than about family control.