West Bengal: With an eye on Matua votes, BJP rakes up CAA issue again
With an eye on the upcoming national polls, BJP has once again promised to frame rules under the CAA to appease a key voterbase - the Matua migrant community, disenchanted with the saffron party
In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, if the BJP has to come even close to its current Lok Sabha tally in West Bengal, it will require the overwhelming support of Matuas, a scheduled caste group with a population of around three crores.
Swayed by the BJP’s promise to grant citizenship to them, this migrant community emerged as the strong support base of the saffron party in the state. The Matuas helped the BJP to win 18 of the state’s 42 Lok Sabha seats in the last general elections.
Immediately after coming to power, the BJP-led central government enacted the Citizenship Amendment Act, promising citizenship to all persecuted Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis, and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan entering India before December 31, 2014.
Delay in framing rules
The rules to grant citizenship under the Act are yet to be framed by the Union home ministry, almost four years since the law was enacted. The ministry has sought at least eight extensions to frame the rules.
The delay has irked the Matuas, a large number of whom have come to India escaping persecution in Bangladesh.
The disenchantment of the community with the BJP was evident in the panchayat elections earlier this year. The Trinamool Congress (TMC) swept both the gram panchayats and zila parishads in the Matua stronghold of North 24 Parganas and Nadia districts.
In these two districts, the BJP had won 13 seats and Mamata Banerjee’s TMC had bagged just five in the last assembly elections held in 2021.
BJP apprehensive
BJP’s Matua leaders such as Bangaon MP Shantanu Thakur and Haringhata MLA Asim Sarkar, have on several occasions expressed apprehension about continuation of the community’s support for the party, if the rules for the CAA are not framed to grant citizenship to the migrant members of the community before the 2024 elections.
To win back the Matua community’s support, the BJP government at the Centre is finally getting ready to formulate the rules of the citizenship law just before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
The Parliamentary Committee on Subordinate Legislation in the Lok Sabha has fixed time till January 9, 2024, for framing rules under the Act, while the committee in the Rajya Sabha has fixed time till March 30, 2024, claimed the Union minister of state for home, Ajay Kumar Mishra, at a gathering of Matuas at Thakurnagar on Sunday (November 26).
Till such time the rules are framed, the community members should not be bothered about their Indian citizenship or any identity document while travelling outside the state, the minister assured.
Identity card
The identity card signed by Shantanu Thakur as president of Matua Mahasangha would be a valid document for citizenship proof, the minister added.
Many people from the Matua community are yet to get Aadhar and other identity documents since they are not Indian citizens. Shantanu Thakur said these people face harassment from police and other law enforcing agencies when they travel outside the state.
He said the assurance from the junior home minister would be a great relief for the community.
The TMC, however, took a potshot at the BJP saying after failing to implement the CAA, the party is now trying to fool the people with the promise of another identity card keeping an eye on the next year’s Lok Sabha elections.
Refugee status
According to TMC leader Biswajit Das, “Before every election, the BJP raked up the issue of citizenship for the Matuas. The reality is that most of the Matuas are Indian citizens and have been participating in Indian elections. This claim of granting citizenship to the Matuas, who are already Indian citizens, is misleading."
But since India does not have any refugee policy, citizenship remains an important identity issue for many Matuas, who have taken refuge in India during the Bangladesh Liberation war of 1971, to escape persecution by the Pakistani army.
They have been demanding permanent citizenship status to get rid of the refugee tag.
The CAA has promised to offer that. But the delay in implementing the law has peeved the Matua community.
The BJP now faces the spectre of Matua backlash and to prevent that the party-led central government needs to take a concrete step in framing the rules for the law ahead of the elections.
Mishra has assured that the rules will be framed by March. Union Home Minister Amit Shah is also expected to give similar assurance when he will address a party rally in Kolkata on Wednesday.
But, the Matuas now want more than just a promise.
