BJP leaders assure Matuas of Shah's meeting soon, TMC blames it of resorting to falsehood

With Union Home Minister AmitShah cancelling his visit to Matua stronghold Thakurnagar inNorth 24 Paragans district on Saturday, senior BJP leadersKailash Viayvargiya and Mukul Roy met prominent members of thecommuity and assured them that the central minister will holda meeting for them ''very soon''.

Vijayvargiya, BJP national general secretary and Roy,the party''s national vice-president, were closeted in an overan hour long meeting with party MP Santanu Thakur.

They told the members of the community that Shah'svisit to Thakurnagar was cancelled due to sudden developmentsin Delhi and that he will visit the place ''very soon'' andaddress the Matuas during his next visit to the state.

Shah's two-day visit to West Bengal from Saturday wascancelled at the last minute following a blast outside theIsraeli embassy in the national capital.

His proposed meeting at Thakurnagar assumes importanceas the Matuas with an estimated population of 30 lakh in thestate can influence the poll outcome in at least 60 assemblyseats in Nadia, North and South 24 Parganas districts ofpoll-bound West Bengal. Polls are likely to be held in April-May this year.

Later, Roy told reporters ''Amit Shah spoke to SantanuThakur about holding the proposed meeting on any coming dayand asked the organizers not to dismantle the stage originallyerected for the meeting''.

''Please don't dismantle the stage and keep yourselfready for all last minute arrangements in 24-48 hour notice.

My office will keep you posted,'' Roy quoted Shah as havingtold Santanu Thakur.

Meanwhile, Matuas living in pockets near theBangladesh border who had come to the headquarters of the sectlooked distraught at the sudden change of plan and left thevenue.

''Shah could not come due to developments in Delh. Heis a busy person. We are ready to wait for him,'' a member ofthe community said.

Mamatabala Thakur, Trinamool Congress leader from thecommunity on the other hand said the cancellation of thescheduled meeting showed that Shah had nothing concrete tooffer to the Matuas regarding the citizenship issue.

Matuas originally hail from erstwhile EastPakistan, now Bangladesh, and began migrating to West Bengalin the beginning of the 1950s, mostly due to religiouspersecution.

Senior TMC leader Subrata Mukherjee claimed that BJPwas giving ''false promises'' to the community.

Referring to the assurances by BJP in the past aboutCitizenship Amendment Act among the Matuas, Mukherjee, who isalso a senior state minister, said ''Matuas have always hadcitizenship in Bengal. They have voted.'' ''How can you give citizenship to those who are alreadycitizens? Those who have ration cards are citizens,'' he said.

In November 2020 Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee haddistributed 25,000 land pattas to refugees from the Matuacommunity. ''This land right document will ensure that they arecitizens,'' Mukherjee pointed out.

''Parliament rules were supposed to be framed withinsix months for Citizenship Amendment Act after the Lok Sabhapolls. They (BJP) asked for more time to make rules, leavingthousands of people in uncertainty. Now they are using COVID-19 as an excuse. All of this is jumla (false promise),'' headdedd.