Lok Sabha elections 2024: Trinamool & BJP aim to consolidate Matua votes

The BJP desperately wants the Matua community by its side in the 2024 LS elections and to consolidate Matua votes 

Pradip Chatterjee, MP, 15 Mar 2024, Kolkata: Both the ruling party in Bengal — Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the Opposition, BJP are eyeing Matua votes in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections as the community is the dominant factor in nearly half a dozen Lok Sabha (LS) seats in North 24-Parganas and Nadia. 

The BJP desperately wants the Matua community by its side in the 2024 LS elections and to consolidate Matua votes through the notification of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) rules.

The Matua community threw its weight behind the BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha, helping it win a record number of LS seats from the state. But two years later, the support splintered in the 

Assembly polls. Matuas form over 40 per cent of the total population in at least 30 to 33 Assembly segments of North 24-Parganas and Nadia. This brings the Lok Sabha seat tally in the region to five to six approximately. 

There are 33 Assembly segments in North 24-Parganas. Trinamool won 27 of these in the 2016 Assembly elections. But, in the 2019 LS elections, Trinamool trailed in 12 Assembly seats. Four of these — Bagda, Bongaon Uttar, Bongaon Dakshin and Gaighata are SC seats with 80 per cent Matua population. 

Nadia is another district where the Matuas are a deciding factor. Trinamool Congress led in 6 of the 17 assembly segments in 2019 LS elections, while the BJP took the lead in the rest with a reasonably decent margin. 

The Matuas are a religious group of Namasudras, or Dalits, who migrated to India in large numbers during Partition and later in 1971 during the Bangladesh Liberation War. Most of them live in North 24-Parganas and Nadia while a sizable chunk also live in the districts of East Burdwan, South 24-Parganas, and Cooch Behar. 

The Rajbanshis and Namasudras stood by the BJP, which won three seats dominated by them in North Bengal, in 2019. They form a population spreading out across Jalpaiguri, Coochbehar and Balurghat constituencies. 

Political observers are of the view that as the BJP was able to make some inroads into North 24-Parganas and Nadia also in North Bengal last time in 2019, after announcing its decision to bring the CAA, they are now desperate to implement it with an aim to consolidate Matua votes in their favour in 2024 LS elections. 

Incidentally, Bengal Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee already raised questions on the timing of the notification of CAA. She dubbed the whole incident as an attempt to gain political mileage by the BJP ahead of Lok Sabha polls. Bengal witnessed violent protests in districts like Murshidabad and Howrah after the introduction of the Bill in 2019. 

The Muslim-dominated areas had maximum protests as the bill spoke about granting citizenship to refugees from neighbouring countries and Muslims were out of the whole equation. 

The implementation of CAA will therefore shape the political narratives for both the ruling Trinamool Congress and its archrival BJP in Bengal. Ever since the Centre notified the rules for the implementation of the CAA, Banerjee stepped up her attack on the BJP-led government at the Centre over the implementation of the CAA, claiming that the notified rules were “ambiguous, unconstitutional and discriminatory”. 

https://www.millenniumpost.in/bengal/lok-sabha-elections-2024-trinamool-bjp-aim-to-consolidate-matua-votes-555982