Home Minister Shah is likely to visit Thakurnagar on 11 February.
New Delhi: The Matua community of West Bengal, which has a sway in about 40 Assembly constituencies in the state, is eagerly waiting for Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s message for the community with regards to the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) when he visits the Matua Headquarters in Thakurnagar sometime next week.
The Sunday Guardian was present at the Matua Headquarters in Thakurnagar last week when Amit Shah was supposed to arrive on 30 January and address a mega rally there, but his visit was cancelled at the last minute due to a bomb blast that happened outside the Israeli Embassy in New Delhi. But thousands of people had gathered at the Thakurbari in Thakurnagar to hear what Amit Shah might say about the CAA and they all believed that the Home Minister would have a positive message for the community.
Sukhdev Biswas, who had come from Jalpaiguri to attend the meeting, told The Sunday Guardian, “I have come with five other people from my family with the hope that Amit Shahji would say something positive about CAA and we could go back home in peace. But then, the rally got cancelled. We are told that a bomb blast happened in Delhi which is why Amit Shahji would not be able to come.”
Ajay Das, another Matua community member who had come from nearby Ranaghat, told this correspondent that he had voted for the BJP in 2019 Lok Sabha polls and he would once again vote for the BJP as he has faith in both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Amit Shah, but the government needs to make their stand clear on CAA.
“We are BJP supporters. We have voted for the BJP and we will do it again. But what we are concerned about is the delay that is happening with regards to the CAA. Why is the government not implementing the CAA? We were hopeful today that we will get to hear something concrete about CAA from the Home Minister, but unfortunately he cancelled his trip to Thakurnagar at the last minute,” Ajay Das said.
As soon as the messsage of Amit Shah’s rally at Thakurnagar being cancelled percolated to the ground, many of the people who had come from different parts of Bengal packed their bags to leave for their homes. But all who were leaving still had a hope that Shah would return to Thakurnagar soon and address the people of this community who have stood by the party during the Lok Sabha elections in 2019.
Biltu Mondal, a resident of Bankura who was leaving for home, told this correspondent, “We are going for now, but we will come back again as soon as Amit Shahji gives a new date for coming to Thakurnagar. Although, we are very disheartened with the cancellation of the programme, we understand that the country comes first.”
According to sources in the BJP, Home Minister Shah is likely to visit Thakurnagar now on 11 February where he will address a rally which he was supposed to do on 30 January. The stage and the pandals built for Amit Shah’s address have still not been taken down and according to BJP sources, it is from this very stage that Shah will address the rally which is likely to witness thousands of people from the Matua community, many of whom are also camping at the Matua headquarters since 30 January.
Sources in the BJP also said that the previous plan that was devised by the party and the district leadership of the BJP for welcoming Amit Shah would remain intact, where Shah is first likely to visit the Temple of Harichand and Guruchand, the revered God of the Matua community and then have lunch at the home of BJP MP Shantanu Thakur, after which he will be addressing a rally at Thakurnagar. Thakurnagar, which is a part of the Bongaon Lok Sabha constituency, had overwhelmingly voted for the BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and that with the Vidhan Sabha elections approaching now, the popularity of the BJP still holds strong in at least five Vidhan Sabha constituency out of the seven that makes up the Bongaon Lok Sabha constituency. People here at large are happy with the BJP and its performance and the popularity of PM Modi and Amit Shah is huge amongst the youths in this constituency.
Multiple voters that this correspondent spoke to have almost equivocally said that the BJP has a good chance of winning the election from here, since they are fed up of corruption, muzzling of free speech and freedom by the police and the local TMC administration in the area.
It is also to be noted that all the seven Vidhan Sabha constituency as part of Bongaon Lok Sabha constituency are reserved for Scheduled Caste candidates due to the large number of Matua community people who reside in these constituencies.