Matua matriarch Boro Ma's last rites to be held on Thursday

The last rites of Matua community matriarch Binapani Devi, popularly known as 'Boro Ma', will be held on Thursday at Thakurnagar in North 24 Parganas district, a family member said.

The mortal remains of Boro Ma, who passed away at a state-run hospital here on Tuesday evening after prolonged illness at the age of 100, arrived at Thakurnagar on Wednesday morning.

"The last rites, with state honours and gun salute, will be performed on Thursday in deference to the wishes of her million of followers who want to attend and other family members," Devi's elder daughter-in-law and Trinamool Congress MP Mamata Bala Thakur told reporters at Thakurnagar Wednesday evening.

The last rites were earlier scheduled to be held on Wednesday evening.

Devi's body was taken in a flower-bedecked hearse from state-run S S K M Hospital in presence of West Bengal minister Jyotipriyo Mallick and Mamata Bala Thakur earlier in the day.

Thakurnagar is the headquarters of the Matua Mahasangh, an organisation of the community.

Many members of the scheduled caste community visited the hospital Tuesday night-early Wednesday morning to pay their last respects to Boro Ma, who breathed her last at 8.52 pm, after being on ventilator support at the hospital since Sunday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, West Bengal Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had on Tuesday condoled the death of Binapani Devi, considered a significant political force in the state.

Modi had met Boro Ma this February during his visit to Thakurnagar, where he had addressed a rally.

Banerjee has announced that Boro Ma will be accorded a state-funeral with gun salute.

The Matuas originally hail from erstwhile East Pakistan, now Bangladesh, and began migrating to West Bengal at the beginning of the 1950s, mostly due to religious persecution.

With an estimated population of 30 lakh in the state, Matuas can influence results in at least five Lok Sabha seats in North and South 24 Parganas districts.