Kolkata: Celebrations broke out within the West Bengal BJP workplace moments after the Centre notified the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) guidelines, simply forward of Lok Sabha elections. Union Minister of State Shantanu Thakur, who’s a part of the Matua group which has lengthy demanded implementation of CAA, exchanged sweets with different state leaders.
“This was our long-standing demand and Modi ji’s guarantee was fulfilled. In the coming days, this will have an impact on the elections and the results will speak. This law is not just for Bengal but for our country,” stated Thakur.
Meanwhile, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee made it clear that she is going to carefully learn the foundations earlier than commenting, however referred to as them a “lollipop” earlier than polls. Addressing an unscheduled media briefing on the state secretariat earlier than the notification was issued by the centre, Mamata stated, “This law was passed in 2020, After multiple extensions, its implementation days before the election shows that it is being done due to political reasons. After seeing the rules and reading the report I will speak on it on Tuesday.”
Both the BJP and TMC have introduced their candidates from Bongaon, a Matua stronghold. BJP’s sitting MP Shantanu Thakur will probably be taking up TMC’s Biswajit Das after Mamata Bala Thakur was already despatched to the Rajya Sabha by Mamata Banerjee final month.
A Dalit sub-caste historically often called Chandalas, the Namasudras traditionally resided within the jap and central components of undivided Bengal. The nineteenth century noticed the caste group mobilise underneath a socio-religious protest sect referred to as Matua, which acquired them their present identify, the Matua-Namasudra.
Matua-Namasudras type round 40 % of the voters locally’s strongholds of Ranaghat (SC) and Bongaon (SC) Lok Sabha constituencies, and likewise play a decisive position in round 30 meeting constituencies throughout the state.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the group helped the BJP win each Ranaghat (SC) and Bongaon (SC) seats by huge margins.
“CAA implementation will have a big impact on Matua dominated seats in Bengal. The Matuas have been promised CAA by the prime minister himself in 2019 and now before they vote again, it has been delivered. This will blunt the opposition narrative that the BJP doesn’t keep its promise. This now becomes a sticky point for Mamata Banerjee who said she wouldn’t allow the implementation of CAA in Bengal and is now left with no choice as she fights the BJP. The BJP will electorally gain from the Matuas and the marginalised communities,” political analyst Snigdhendu Bhattacharya informed ThePrint.
The CAA was handed in Parliament in December 2019, to grant Indian citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Parsis, Christians, Buddhists, and Jains from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh who entered India earlier than 31 December 2014. After it was notified in 2020, the Ministry of Home Affairs sought a number of extensions from the Lok Sabha’s Committee on Subordinate Legislation — the parliamentary panel mandated to examine if the powers to make laws are being appropriately exercised — to organize the CAA guidelines.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)
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