Kolkata: Paying obeisance to ‘Boro Ma’ Binapani Devi, the Matua matriarch who fought for the citizenship rights of the community, CM Mamata Banerjee on Thursday assured the community of her support amid the fear of large-scale deletions of Matuas from the electoral list. In her X post, Banerjee also criticised the BJP-led Centre.Sources said that in the first draft of the final voter list, more than 40,000 names have been deleted from five Matua-dominated assembly segments under the Bongaon Lok Sabha constituency — Bagda, Gaighata, Bongaon North, Bongaon South and Swarupnagar.“Due to the conspiracy of the BJP govt at Centre, Matua brothers and sisters are being pushed into a state of uncertainty and confusion. Politics is being played in the name of granting citizenship. Their very identity is being questioned. Through the SIR process, their names are deliberately being deleted from the voter list. Those who are citizens of this country for generations and whose votes elect govts are now being made to stand in uncertainty in the name of granting them ‘citizenship’ afresh,” the CM posted.“We will not accept this injustice. The fight will continue against any attempt to snatch away the rights of my Matua brothers and sisters and the people of Bengal. We will not allow any harm to come to the people of Bengal. On this special day, this is my pledge,” she added.The TMC-led faction of the All India Matua Mahasangha, headed by Rajya Sabha MP Mamata Bala Thakur, welcomed Banerjee’s message and praised her initiatives.In her message, the CM also recalled her personal bond with Boro Ma. “My relationship with Boro Ma was personal and spiritual. I was blessed by her maternal affection — that is one of the greatest gifts of my life. Whenever she called me for medical or other needs, I rushed to her. It is a matter of pride that our govt conferred the state’s highest honour, ‘Banga Bibhushan’, upon her in recognition of her immense social contribution,” she wrote.Banerjee highlighted various initiatives of her govt for the benefit of the Matua community, including the formation of the Matua Development Board and the Namasudra Development Board, declaration of a state holiday on the birth anniversary of Harichand Thakur, establishment of Harichand-Guruchand University near Thakurbari and an extension campus in Krishnanagar, setting up of PR Thakur Govt College in Gaighata, implementation of the “Jalatrupti” drinking water project in Habra-Gaighata, construction of bridges over the Ichamati at Murighata and over the Boldeghata canal at Kuthipara-Nagbari, a new ITI and Polytechnic college and a Kisan Mandi in Gaighata, and plans for a flower market in Thakurnagar.
