Shuvendu Adhikari Accuses Mamata Banerjee of Misleading Matua Community on CAA

Baby Chakraborty, KalimNews, January 5, 2026, Kolkata : West Bengal's Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly, Shuvendu Adhikari, has raised concerns over what he describes as a deliberate attempt to mislead the Matua community and Hindu refugees about the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). Speaking at a press conference at the BJP office in Salt Lake on Monday, Adhikari accused the state government, particularly Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, of spreading misinformation and creating an atmosphere of fear regarding the CAA and its alleged link to the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and detention camps.

The Leader of the Opposition, a prominent figure in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), highlighted that a significant portion of the Hindu refugee population in West Bengal, many of whom came from East Pakistan—now Bangladesh—following the partition of India, belong to the Matua community. Adhikari alleged that for many years, these refugees have been used as a vote bank by various political parties, including the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC).

Adhikari, referencing the Matua community’s long-standing agitation for citizenship rights, underscored that the community, founded by religious leaders Thakur Harichand and Thakur Guruchand, had been advocating for recognition for decades. He noted that while the Congress and Left Front governments had made promises regarding citizenship to refugees, none of those promises had been fulfilled. However, Adhikari pointed out that the promise made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the lead-up to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections—that the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) would be implemented to grant citizenship to these refugees—has now been fulfilled.

Accusing Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of spreading misleading propaganda from the start, Adhikari stated that Banerjee had linked the CAA to the NRC and detention camps, creating unnecessary fear among the people. According to Adhikari, this misinformation had led to unrest in several parts of West Bengal, culminating in damage to public property and disturbances affecting ordinary citizens. He reiterated that after the implementation of the CAA, it has become clear that the law has no connection with the NRC or the establishment of detention camps. The process, he argued, has already been set in motion across the country, with citizenship certificates being issued to applicants in various states, and thousands of applications from West Bengal also being processed.

In a further critique of Mamata Banerjee’s stance, Adhikari alleged that as elections approach, attempts are once again being made to confuse the Matua community and Hindu refugees by instilling fear about the NRC. He also accused the TMC of interfering in the internal matters of the Thakur family, which has long been associated with the Matua movement. Drawing attention to Prime Minister Modi’s efforts, Adhikari noted that Modi had, for the first time in India’s history, visited Orakandi—the birthplace of the Matua community—in a gesture of respect. Modi, he said, had taken significant steps to protect the refugees and safeguard their rights.

The Leader of the Opposition also spoke about the recent persecution of Hindus in Bangladesh, stating that many Hindu refugees had sought shelter in West Bengal. Despite facing harassment from local police, Adhikari stressed that the central government had clearly instructed that no state police could harass or forcibly deport these Bangladeshi Hindu refugees, who had fled their homeland to escape religious persecution, until December 31, 2024.

Concluding his remarks, Shuvendu Adhikari condemned the politics of misleading the Matua community and Hindu refugees. He assured the public that the BJP would continue to stand firm in protecting the rights of the Sanatan Hindu community and refugees in the future.