Modi's Bengal rally speech ignored Matuas' citizenship concerns: TMC

The Trinamool Congress on Saturday alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's speech at the Taherpur rally in West Bengal showed his "lack of concern" for the Matuas, who have been facing uncertainties over deletion of names post publication of the draft electoral rolls under the SIR.

TMC state general secretary Kunal Ghosh also claimed that the prime minister did not utter a single word about the alleged harassment of Bengali-speaking people in BJP-ruled states.

"Modi's speech lacked vision and responsibility. He did not address the concerns of the Matuas," he told reporters.

For the Matuas, a Dalit Hindu refugee community which migrated from Bangladesh over decades following religious persecution, the first state-wide Special Intensive Revision (SIR) since 2002 has created anxieties among voters over identity and citizenship.

 

The names of over 58,20,898 people have been excluded from the draft electoral rolls under SIR, reducing West Bengal's electorate from 7.66 crore to 7.08 crore.

EC data also showed around 1.36 crore entries flagged for logical discrepancies, and nearly 30 lakh voters categorised as unmapped, taking the number of voters who may be called for hearings to around 1.66 crore.

Matua leaders across party lines claimed that a major share of these voters belong to the community.

Ghosh also alleged that the PM "remained silent on the deportation of Indian citizens to Bangladesh by the police force of BJP-ruled states, who could return to their motherland India at the intervention of the judiciary".

His allusion was to Sunali Khatun, who returned to India on December 6 after being pushed into Bangladesh in June.

Ghosh also claimed, "Modi did not explain why the Centre blocked the funds for central projects for the poor people in West Bengal and weaved a false narrative about lack of development in the state."  He asked why the Centre has withheld thousands of crores of funds under the 100-day rural employment scheme.

"Why has he deprived the poor of building their own houses in rural areas? Why has the drinking water project been stalled by the Centre? The Mamata Banerjee government is mobilising its own resources to run these projects," he claimed.

Ghosh claimed that a few BJP workers died in a train accident on the way to the Taherpur rally and blamed "crowd mismanagement at Modi's programme".

"We are sad over the loss of lives of BJP workers. But had there been proper management on the way to the venue, it could have been avoided," he claimed.

The railway authorities confirmed that three people died and three others were injured after being hit by a train amid dense fog on Saturday, while travelling to attend Modi's rally at Taherpur in Nadia district.

West Bengal minister and senior TMC leader Chandrima Bhattacharya later told reporters that the PM has not spoken a single word about the Centre withholding Rs 1.97 lakh crore dues of West Bengal under several central projects.

In a jibe at Modi's speaking in Bengali, Bhattacharya said, "Despite his best efforts, many of his pronunciations made little sense particularly regarding names of places."  "Before the 2019 and 2021 polls, we witnessed his efforts to speak in Bengali. But, apparently, that did not yield results. Now, suddenly, he remembers Harichand Thakur and Guruchand Thakur. He speaks about Sri Chaitanya. He dreams of capturing West Bengal, but that will end up being his daydream," she claimed.

Bhattacharya, as a senior state minister, went to officially receive Modi when he arrived at Kolkata airport in the morning.

About Modi's helicopter failing to land due to poor visibility, she said sarcastically, "The fact remains our hon'ble PM could not land. Don't want to comment on this, but apparently one needs to have the blessings of God to land on this soil associated with the memory of spiritual icons of West Bengal."  Senior minister Bratya Basu, who was also present at the press meet, said that the PM this time sought to set the record straight by describing literary icon Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay as 'Bankim Babu' instead of 'Bankim Da' at Parliament.

"But such gaffes only reinforce their ignorance about West Bengal, its rich heritage, culture and traditions," he claimed.

TMC Rajya Sabha MP and Matua leader Mamata Bala Thakur said, "Members of the community were expecting elaboration from the PM on SIR, how it affects the members of the community and the BJP's earlier promise to grant them citizenship."  Before the 2019 polls, the PM had visited Thakurnagar, our headquarters, and made lots of promises. Maybe some members of the community were misled but none of his promises have been fulfilled yet, she said.

"Instead, the Matuas in North 24 Parganas and Nadia districts have been the worst hit by SIR. In whichever constituencies the Matuas are in a majority, their names were omitted from the draft electoral rolls," she said.

She claimed that CAA camps to assist Matuas become citizens, as promised by Union minister Santanu Thakur, have been wound up as "the BJP government played with the beliefs of Matua and pushed them to uncertainty".