Bongaon BJP MP and junior Union minister Shantanu Thakur on Sunday assured Matua refugees that their names would not disappear from the voter list even if they were dropped after the special intensive revision of electoral rolls.
Addressing a large gathering of the Matua community at Thakurnagar in North 24-Parganas, he said even if anyone’s name was dropped during the SIR process, he would help them secure voter identity again through the amended citizenship law (CAA).
"I shall help you to obtain the voter card… don’t panic at all,” Thakur said at the Matua convention organised by the All India Matua Mahasangh at Thakurbari, the community’s spiritual seat.
Thakur’s assurance, however, stirred a fresh controversy over the scope of the CAA and the authenticity of his claim, with rivals calling it BJP's “damage-control exercise” after the “failed outcome” of the party’s much-publicised promise of citizenship to the Matuas.
Apparently attempting to allay anxiety among community members over the SIR, Thakur said: "It appears that you are in a dilemma about the SIR. I would suggest you appeal for citizenship. Those who physically came to India should appeal for citizenship. Even if your name is dropped from the voters’ list after the SIR, it will once again be incorporated after you get citizenship status. So don’t panic.”
“Those who are refugees from the other side — not Rohingya or Bangladeshi Muslims, not ghost voters — those who are refugees from the other side, please apply for CAA quickly, as soon as possible. If you get citizenship, you will be given a voter card again. And if you do not have a voter card, come to me, I will make you a voter card,” he said.
Addressing the apparent overlap between the SIR and the CAA, Thakur said: “One (SIR) is under the Election Commission, the other (CAA) is under the home ministry. If one name is removed from the SIR, the CAA means he is a citizen. And a citizen means a citizen of India. Only if he is a citizen will he have a voter card. Naturally, these people will be citizens of India."
Reacting sharply, Trinamool Congress state general secretary Kunal Ghosh said: “The Matua community is going to suffer the most. Shantanu Thakur has understood that. He is trying to hide the truth now. He is trying to say that if SIR excludes them, he will include them through CAA. This is a failed attempt to hide the truth.”
CPM central committee member Sujan Chakraborty termed Thakur's comment "irresponsible" and "fake".