Subrata, the grandson of PR Thakur and Matua patriarch Baroma Binapani Devi, explained how his family prioritized not only social dignity but also education and employability to ensure the rise of the community. Incidentally, PR Thakur is the first lawyer from the disadvantaged Namasudra community. TOI spoke to Subrata at the sprawling Thakubari campus at Gaiga Thakur Nagar, 24 North Parganas, where he is a sitting councilor and MP.
bjp Candidates for the April 29 election.
But for him and other BJP leaders in the Matua region, this election is trickier than previous ones. In addition to the harsh April sunshine, they also face political pressure from the massive deletion of electoral rolls under the SIR.
Subrata does not deny this uneasiness. But he insisted these were not real exclusions and said most of the cases related to an earlier SIR in 2002. According to him, the problems were caused by glitches, missing uploads and political sabotage. He said the BJP was helping people fill up Form 6 and restore their names.
His message to the community is simple, don’t panic, you are safe in India, CAA is there and the BJP will get your names back. Then there is a line of defense that may define the BJP in this belt. “When you clean a house, sometimes you break a few pieces of glass,” he said. Subrata describes how the community was formed by Partition, immigration, refugee life and a long struggle for documents. Even after seventy years of independence, the struggle is not completely over.
These numbers explain why anxiety is real. Among the 142 seats that were voted for in the second phase, 12,87,622 electors were deleted during the judicial ruling process. In North 24 Parganas district, where Matua has the highest concentration, 5,91,252 voters were adjudicated and 3,25,666 voters were declared ineligible.
In the Bongaon region, the political damage was even more severe. In Gaighata, the number of judicial expungements in the second phase was 19,638. Baghdad excluded 5,890 out of 13,459 flagged cases, taking a total of 15,303 cases out of the constituency’s 2,63,142 voters. The Times of India had earlier reported that 36,000 of those delisted in the four constituencies where Matua has a majority belonged to the community. In Nadia, Matua dominated Ranaghat Northeast and Ranaghat South with 20, 796 and 17,411 deletions respectively.
CAA is often viewed as a lifeline, but the reality is more complicated. The help center at the Takubari campus looks deserted. Some local voices said the application was stuck at a bottleneck. Others said many Matua people did not apply because doing so felt like admitting they were not yet Indian citizens. When asked about the delay, Subrata said the Union Home Ministry was conducting detailed cross-checking.
Now, this is a bigger stronghold for the BJP in the Matua belt. Both Narendra Modi and Amit Shah have returned to the Matua issue in recent days, pledging to provide citizenship, documentation and security to refugee Hindu families. Prime Minister Modi visited Orakandi, Bangladesh, the birthplace of Harichand Thakur and promised citizenship to the Matua and Namasudra families. Amit Shah accused Mamata Banerjee of removing Matua’s name and accused the TMC of spreading fear.
The TMC has turned the same question into accusations of betrayal. In Harimhata, Abhishek Banerjee accused the BJP of humiliating and depriving Matuas of their rights after promising them citizenship and job opportunities. He said the BJP was shedding “crocodile tears” for the community and alleged that the TMC has been supporting the deleted voters from SIR form filling booths to the Supreme Court.
Mamata Banerjee describes SIR as a larger identity battle. During the campaign in Chakdar, Bangaon and Habra, she called the event a “get up game” and compared it to the Chaitra auction, saying some family members participated in the event while others did not. In Kolkata, she ended her campaign by asking voters to “line up again” and use their votes to teach the BJP a lesson.
Subrata rejected the charges. He said this fear was created by the TMC, which told people that those whose names were missing would be evicted. He also accused the Mamata Banerjee government of helping Bangladeshis with forged documents.
He then returned to the history of Matua. He spoke of a time when Matuas were stripped of their dignity, treated as Chandars, pushed to the fringes of their villages, and denied their right to worship with respect. Citing Harichand Thakur and Guruchand Thakur, he said the movement was not just around faith but also around education, work and self-esteem.
This history is at the heart of politics here. The Matuas, primarily from the Namasudra caste with roots in present-day Bangladesh, found their spiritual center and political backbone in Thakur Nagar. Subrata said his grandfather PR Thakur ensured major improvements in infrastructure and education in the district during his tenure as MP. But he blamed the non-extension of the Nehru-Liaquat pact for leaving those who came after them to struggle for citizenship.
In the past few elections, the BJP has exploited this insecurity through its promise of CAA. The results are clear. In 2021, the BJP swept four Matua-dominated assembly seats in Bongaon division, namely Gaighata, Bagdah, Bongaon North and Bongaon South. It is also leading in all four elections in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. It also performed strongly in the Matua-dominated region of Nadia.
Matuas are the second largest scheduled caste group in Bengal and influence an estimated 50 to 70 parliamentary seats. But this time, the BJP defended that base under pressure. Subrata underestimated Mamata’s influence on the community. He said she came to Baroma before 2011 because she needed Matua votes, but after consolidating Muslim support, the Matua people became dispensable to her.
On the ground, there were mixed emotions. Some voters say that with their names intact, the BJP will recover. Others stated that one family member had been removed while the remaining members remained. Some still believe the BJP can solve the problem. Others said many of those affected were BJP supporters and the anger over the deletions may now push some towards the TMC. The atmosphere in Thakur Nagar outside the campus is also somber.
There is also the Takubari split.
In Gaghata, Subrata Thakur is campaigning for the BJP. In nearby Baghdad, the BJP fielded Soma Thakur, wife of federal minister Shantanu Thakur, against sitting TMC MLA Madhuparna Thakur, daughter of federal parliament member Mamata Bala Thakur. Shantanu is Subrata’s younger brother. The once undivided Matua Mahasanga was now divided into factions, and Mamata Bala’s faction did not recognize the CAA for its followers.
So this is not just the BJP versus the TMC. It is also a battle within the Matua family, the most influential family in Bengal. In Taku Nagar, the question is not just whether the name returns. The question is whether they will restore trust. For years, the BJP told Matuas that this would end their uncertainty. SIR brings this uncertainty back into the campaign.
This is why Subrata’s route is likely to persist. “When you clean a house, sometimes a few pieces of glass get broken.” Broken glass always leaves a mark. Whether this will leave a scar on the fate of the BJP will be revealed on May 4.
