KOLKATA: The Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Wednesday accused the Shantanu Thakur-led All India Matua Mahasangha (AIMM) of issuing the organisation’s identity cards for money to Bangladeshi migrants who were not eligible for Indian citizenship under the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
Bharatiya Janata Party leader and union minister of state for shipping Shantanu Thakur heads the Mahasangha president.
“Shantanu Thakur is holding camps from where Bangladeshis who entered India in recent years are being given these ID cards and certificates in exchange for money,” Gopal Seth, TMC leader and chairman of the Bongaon municipality in North 24 Parganas district, told reporters.
“I had written to the Union home ministry about this but didn’t receive a reply. I will file a writ petition before the Calcutta high court,” Seth added.
The CAA was passed by Parliament in 2019 to fast-track citizenship for non-Muslims, who have entered India from Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Bangladesh before 2015. TMC chairperson and chief minister Mamata Banerjee has criticised the law, saying it is unconstitutional to link citizenship to faith in a secular country.
The Mahasangha started issuing the identity documents after CAA was enacted, saying it would help people prove that they were Hindus from Bangladesh.
The Matuas, a backward-caste Hindu sect founded by Harichand Thakur, form a significant vote bank in North 24 Parganas and adjoining Nadia. The demand for the Mahasangha’s identity cards shot up in recent weeks after reports that the Election Commission of India (ECI) would conduct a special intensive revision of electoral rolls in Bengal.
TMC leader Seth and Biswajit Das, the Bongaon MLA, alleged that the Mahasangha camps were being held to provide citizenship to Bangladeshis who entered India after 2015. “Bangladeshis who entered India in recent years are being given certificates which state that these people are Hindus,” Das said.
The controversy has erupted days after a tussle between Shantanu Thakur and his elder brother Subrata Thakur, the BJP MLA from North 24 Parganas district’s Gaighata, erupted on August 24 during the distribution of these documents.
Shantanu and Subrata are Matua leaders and office bearers of the Mahasangha. Included in the Scheduled Caste (SC) category, Matuas influence election results in around 74 of Bengal’s 294 assembly seats, according to surveys done by TMC and BJP.
Members of the Thakur family are direct descendants of Sri Harichand Thakur, the founder of the community.
Subrata Thakur, who is also distributing similar cards from separate locations, has accused his brother of dragging the temple of the Mahasangha headquarters at Thakurnagar into politics by setting up a camp on its premises.
The state BJP leadership has kept its distance from the tussle between the two brothers till now, calling it a “family matter.”
Shantanu Thakur, who dismissed the allegation on July 24 and accused Subrata of attempting to join TMC, could not be contacted on Wednesday when Seth raised the new allegation.
Sukhendranath Gayen, the Mahasangha general secretary, however, denied the allegation.
“It is absolutely baseless. No money is being taken from anyone. These are merely membership cards of the Mahasangha,” Gayen said.
Bikash Ghosh, the president of the BJP’s Bongaon unit, also insisted that the Mahasangha was not issuing documents arbitrarily. “The Mahasangha is giving these only to people they know. TMC is raising baseless allegations to hide various corruptions its leaders are involved in,” Ghosh said.
