Do not fall prey to BJP's promise of citizenship, Matuas told

Thakurnagar, Feb 13: The Bangla Pokkho, an organisation which propagates Bengali sub-nationalism, on Saturday urged members of the Matua community not to fall prey to the BJP''s promise of providing them citizenship by implementing the contentious CAA.

The BJP is trying to destroy West Bengal, leaders of the organisation alleged at a rally held against CAA and NRC at Thakurnagar, the headquarters of the Matua sect, where Union Home Minister Amit Shah held a public meeting on Thursday, ahead of the assembly election in the state.

As soon as the COVID-19 vaccination programme ends, the process of granting citizenship under the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) will begin, Shah had said at the rally.

"They (BJP leaders) are continuously misleading people in the name of citizenship. I will ask the people of this area not to fall prey to their plan," Bangla Pokkho functionary Kaushik Maity said at the meeting.

Bengalis of BJP-ruled Assam are the victims of the NRC exercise, he alleged.

"Many Bengalis in Assam are being forced to go to detention camps and many of them are Hindus. Many Bengalis died by suicide in Assam and most of them were Namasudras," Maity claimed.

Matuas are also Namasudras by caste. Originally from East Pakistan, they are weaker section of Hindus who migrated to India during the Partition and after the creation of Bangladesh.

The Matua community, with an estimated population of three million in the state, can tilt the scales in favour of a political party in at least four Lok seats and more than 30 assembly seats in Nadia, and North and South 24 Parganas districts. It once stood solidly behind the TMC but had supported the BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

He said that the Bangla Pokkho is opposed to the alleged conspiracy of the BJP to divide West Bengal by creating separate Gorkhaland state.

"It''s our fight for survival. When someone wants to uproot us from the ground, we fight by remembering the words of our gurus," Garga Chattopadhyay of Bangla Pokkho said.