At least four Matua devotees were injured on Wednesday afternoon after rival factions of the All India Matua Mahasangha, led by the junior Union minister Shantanu Thakur, and his aunt, Trinamool Congress's Rajya Sabha member Mamatabala Thakur, clashed inside the premises of their residential complex that also houses the Matua community’s sacred headquarters at Thakurnagar, North 24-Parganas.
According to local sources, tension flared when a Trinamool-backed group of around 100 persons reached Shantanu’s residence, seeking clarification on his recent remarks suggesting that nearly one lakh Matua members could be excluded from the electoral roll following the special intensive revision (SIR), and that they should be willing to make that "sacrifice" to ensure exclusion of 50 lakh Muslims from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Myanmar.
The group was allegedly mobilised by Sukhen Chowdhury, Mamatabala's aide.
Close aides of Shantanu purportedly stopped the group from entering the premises. Several Matua followers aligned with Mamatabala were allegedly punched, slapped, and kicked when they attempted to enter the minister’s house.
Cops outside the premises did not intervene, as they normally do not enter without specific administrative orders.
Trinamool MP Mamatabala, who heads the party-backed faction of the All India Matua Mahasangha, accused Shantanu of sheltering criminals and orchestrating attacks on innocent devotees who had "merely gone to seek an explanation" on his statement on the possible exclusion of one lakh Matua voters.
Mamatabala alleged that the BJP had betrayed the Matua community by encouraging it to apply for citizenship with the promise of voting rights, only to have those rights “snatched away” through the SIR process.
“The Matuas came to seek clarification from Shantanu Thakur as to why they were robbed of voting rights despite filling up citizenship applications as advised by him. He took money to prepare Hindu identity cards.... Now he says it hardly matters if one lakh Matua names are excluded," she said.
"So they went to seek clarification, but were beaten up by hooligans gathered by the BJP leadership.... Even women were not spared,” she alleged.
Shantanu dismissed the allegations and claimed Mamatabala had provoked the unrest and sent hooligans, claiming to be devotees, to attack his residence.
“I was shocked to see armed hooligans close to Mamatabala Thakur coming to my house and shouting abusive slogans. They turned violent when some devotees protested against such behaviour. How could Mamatabala Thakur dare incite hooligans and send them to my house to unleash goonda raj?” he said, adding that necessary legal steps would be taken and the Union home ministry had been informed.
A visibly irate Shantanu questioned why he should answer questions. “They should be asking the Election Commission of India. Why me? Am I excluding them (as voters), or is the commission?” he asked.