Ram Mondal, a 65-year-old from the Matua community, woke up early on Saturday, did his puja and walked 12km to reach the local high school by 9am to secure a vantage point on the sprawling ground, hoping that Union home minister Amit Shah would clear the confusion about the implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act.
On reaching the venue, he learnt Shah’s event had been put off. In a late Friday decision, the Union home minister deferred his weekend visit to poll-bound Bengal in the wake of a blast near the Israeli embassy in Delhi. Still, Mondal hung around for three hours. Finally, he left the venue, murmuring: “Ebar-o elen na uni (He didn’t turn up this time too).”
Shah’s much-hyped event in Thakurnagar was to host an audience of more than a lakh, most from the immigrant Matua community of Bangladesh.
An earlier trip to Thakurnagar had earlier been cancelled on December 19.
Mondal, who migrated to India in 2000 because of floods in Bangladesh, has Aadhaar and PAN cards and a land deed in his name. Originally from Jessore, Mondal however lives in fear that Indian authorities consider him a Bangladeshi.
“I want Indian citizenship and I came here thinking that Amit Shah will solve my problem,” said Mondal, who is concerned despite chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s assertion that people like him are very much Indian and no one can drive them away.
A group of 20-odd men and women at the venue said they had similar fears despite having almost all identity documents such as voter, Aadhaar and PAN cards. “Only a citizenship card can solve our problem and that only the BJP government at the Centre can give us,” said one of them, Bikash Biswas, unaware that there was no such thing.
Thakurnagar was painted saffron and red (the colour of the Matua flag) on Saturday for Shah’s visit. The Matua leadership and state BJP leaders had raised expectations by campaigning that Shah would announce the process of implementation of the new citizenship act.
With Shah not showing up — twice in 41 days — dejection was palpable. When local MP Santanu Thakur — also from the community — was closeted in a meeting with the BJP’s Bengal minder Kailash Vijayvargiya and national vice-president Mukul Roy, slogans demanding immediate implementation of the citizenship act filled the air.
“Amitji couldn’t come because of a national emergency.… The stage will remain intact and he can come anytime, even on 24 hour’s notice,” Roy said in a media briefing.
Statements like these helped people like Mondal go back home, their hopes alive.
This hope has been the BJP’s biggest political asset in the Matua-dominated parts of North 24-Parganas and Nadia from where the party won two Lok Sabha seats in 2019 riding on the promise of citizenship.
At the same time, not only is impatience brewing in the community, some among the Matuas have started challenging the BJP narrative. “The provisions of the CAA will require any applicant for citizenship to disclose that he has been an illegal immigrant… The question is, why will we do so after living in this country for so many years?” asked writer Kapil Krishna Thakur.
Such questions have reached Matua leaders such as Bongaon MP Santanu and his brother Subrata. “We want citizenship, but without any conditions like applying for it or declaration of status as illegal immigrants,” said Subrata.
Legal experts, however, say that unconditional citizenship is not possible under the existing provisions of the CAA.
Sources aware of talks between the Matua leaders and BJP top brass said that the demand from the MP’s family had made framing the CAA rules a complicated exercise.
As the Matuas matter in 25 to 30 Assembly seats, Trinamul has started working overtime to woo them back.
“Our chief minister has said all of us are citizens.… She has given land deeds to people in refugee colonies. The BJP is creating confusion on the citizenship issue for political gains,” said Mamatabala Thakur, a former Trinamul MP and a Matua leader, who also went on to allege that Shah had avoided coming here as he had nothing to offer.
Additional reporting by Subhasish Chaudhuri
