Read this report by Ajanta Chakraborty,TNN : The Matua factor in Bengal politics BONGAON: Poll battle in Bengal is characterized by a newfound ritual - wooing the Matuas. The Matua vote-bank was discovered in 2009 when Karl Marxs followers, otherwise denouncing religion as opium of the masses, were suddenly empathic towards a certain faith. You had high-browed Communists like Brinda Karat and Biman Bose rushing to Thakurnagar near the Indo-Bangla border to touch the feet of nonagenarian Binapani Devi whom everyone, including our current chief minister, calls Boroma (elder Mother). Mamata Banerjee clinched the socially disadvantaged Hindu sect votes in 2009 Lok Sabha and the 2011 assembly polls. She made a minister out of Boromas younger son, Manjulkrishna Thakur, and has now nominated her elder son, Kapilkrishna, from Bongaon. BJP has fielded a Matua, K D Biswas, and CPMs Debesh Das is banking heavily on Matua Forward Bloc strongman Haripada Biswas to wrest the crucial North 24-Parganas seat. Bongaon. This is where social scientists delving into the unique case study on Matuas should come to. Its March-end and Baruni Mela has commenced at Bongaons Thakurnagar. The fair originated in sect founder Harichands village, Orakandi in Gopalganj, and shifted here in 1948. The Matua headquarters, 70km north of Kolkata, falls in the Gaighata assembly constituency from where Boromas son won, riding on SC votes. The sect comprises Bengals second largest SC population, Namasudra (formerly Chandal) refugees, who left Bangladesh to settle in Howrah, the two 24-Parganas, Nadia, Malda, Cooch Behar, South and North Dinajpur. Most Matuas have relatives across the border (some landed up during the 2013 unrest). Asim Sikdar (64), retired electric fitter of Betul coal mines in Madhya Pradesh, who has come all the way to attend the mela, rues: Didi is silent on the prime Matua demand - stalling deportation of those who have been dubbed as infiltrators after the 2003 Citizenship Amendment Act. If angry Matuas, one of Indias best-organized communities, were part of the winds of change that swept Bengal, they could well turn the tables now, much as Didi may stick to the vote-bank with a slew of sops. Lets get back to the fair. The otherwise sleepy hamlet, 3km from Thakurnagar station, is packed with Matuas from across India. Amid the huts stand two pagoda-like temples, the nucleus of the pilgrimage. The taller one is of Harichand, who founded the sect in mid-1800 at Gopalganj in Bangladeshs Faridpur. Beating drums (danka) and brandishing white-laced crimson flags, hordes of Matuas push through the serpentine alleys to reach Boroma. She is seated inside the choc-a-bloc Thakurbari balcony, behind the temples of Haridchand and his son Guruchand, who consolidated the sect before handing the baton to his son and Pramathas father, Sashi Bhushan. Mamata has fielded Kapilkrishna, to whom Pramatha bequeathed the order in a deed registered on September 5, 1988. Mamata is doing good work, Boroma whispers. Thats a remarkable change from 2009 and 2011 when with Mamata beside her, the avowedly apolitical sect leader would only aver: I dont ask anyone to vote for any party. An insider reveals: Boroma wanted another Lok Sabha seat, Ranaghat (in neighbouring Nadia district) that is also Matua-dominated, for Kapil and the coveted Bongaon for Manjuls son and panchayat samiti member Subrata. Kapils candidature has rankled his brother no end. Undoubtedly, Matuas first family is bogged by feud now that it has tasted power-politics, half a century after Boromas husband and Harichands great-grandson was sworn in as a junior tribal development minister in 1962 in the B C Roy cabinet. Pramatha practised the signature Harichand adage - Je jatir dol nei she jatir bol nei (a community that doesnt have a party is weak). An MLA since 1937, he managed to buy forest land a decade later to set up Thakurnagar for the untouchables who fled then East Pakistan. He was Congress MP from Nabadweep in 1967, but quit politics soon after, disillusioned. Post-1977, the Matuas supported the Left Front. Kapilkrishna was no exception. Summing up the disenchantment, he says: The Left did nothing for SC and STs. Late CPM minister Subhas Chakraborty was first to sense the change of heart when he visited Boroma, post Singur-Nandigram. But local Trinamool Congress MLA Jyotipriya Mullick nudged his boss in the nick of time to woo the Matuas away. Thus was introduced the caste politics that rules India, but hitherto unknown in Bengal, Bengals 68 lakh-odd Matuas affect the elections a lot. Didi made Boromas son a minister and now shell make the other one an MP. They will ensure Matua support, which, in turn, will bring the SC-ST votes, Mullick says simply. But thats a political hyperbole. According to 2001 census, Namasudras were 33.393 lakh or 17.4 % of Bengals 1.84 crore SC community. Considering half the Namasudras are Matuas, they couldnt be more than 17 lakh, including children and non-voters. Politics leaders vehemently shun the logic: We have crore-plus listed members, insists BJP candidate and Matua Mahasabha central committee member Krishna Das Biswas. Rabindranath Haldar (60), the unofficial Matua spokesman, proclaims: We have 6crore members all over India... Je kare Harir kaaj, Hari karey taar kaaj (the Lord works for those who work for him). Instead of using us as pawns, political parties should keep their promises. Or each Matua will listen to his own instinct. In 2010, Boroma made Mamata the Matua Mahasabha chief patron and she returned the gesture by donating Rs 33 lakh for sprucing up Kamonasagor, the holy pond. Mamatas promises included formulating a refugee rehabilitation policy, a sports stadium and a railway hospital. Swarup Samaddar (60), a chicken seller, and the unemployed Samir Biswas (24) have a clear stance. It makes sense to vote for Narendra Modi, says Samaddar. Biswas explains why: We voted a thakur who has done nothing as the refugee, relief and rehabilitation minister. All the Trinamool has done is taking over the Thakurbari. BJP candidate Biswas, representing the aam Matua, is asking them a pertinent question: Why should one family get the ministers, MPs and panchayat members, and all the wealth. Why cant we function democratically like Bharat Sevashram Sangh and Ramakrishna Mission? timesofindia.indiatimes/news/The-Matua-factor-in-Bengal-politics/articleshow/32988818.cms
Posted on: Thu, 18 Dec 2014 09:01:10 +0000
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