Trinamool Rajya Sabha MP and Matua leader Mamatabala Thakur announced on Monday that she would join the community's ongoing fast-unto-death from Wednesday in Thakurnagar to demand the unconditional rollback of the special intensive revision (SIR) of Bengal’s voter rolls.
Mamatabala slammed the Centre for trying to implement the National Register of Citizens (NRC) “through the backdoor” under the guise of SIR.
The Trinamool MP alleged that the Election Commission’s decision to identify and link voters with the 2002 poll roll — set as the benchmark for the SIR — was “a deliberate attempt to brand members of the Matua community as Bangladeshis”, compelling them to apply for citizenship under the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA).
According to her, this would leave many in uncertainty because of the requirement to submit proof of their ancestral roots in Bangladesh.
Speaking to reporters, Mamatabala said she would join the “fast-unto-death” from Wednesday to demand a rollback of the SIR. “I will join this hunger strike," she said, asking Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah to stop the SIR.
“The hunger strike, which entered its sixth day on Monday, will continue until our demand is met,” Mamatabala said, challenging the Centre “to try and stop it”.
So far, four protesters have fallen ill, with two admitted to the Bongaon Subdivisional Hospital in a critical state, sources said.
“It is very unfortunate that those on fast are seriously ill. Four persons have fallen ill so far, two are critical. But no one from the Centre has come. The BJP is only unleashing fear,” Mamatabala said.
Preliminary mapping of the electorate in Bongaon subdivision suggests that names of nearly 55 per cent of current voters are not in the 2002 roll. Absence of parents’ names has raised fears among many voters. The Matua body leading the hunger strike has urged the Centre to allow these voters to remain on the list even if they or their parents’ names are missing from the 2002 register — the last time an SIR was done.
Taking on her rival and BJP MP Shantanu Thakur, also a Union minister of state, Mamatabala said: “It is unfortunate that people like Shantanu Thakur have branded fasting Matua devotees as Rohingya and Bangladeshi Muslims. With the Centre’s backing, he seems desperate to deport them.”
“Through this SIR, Shantanu is trying to rob these people of their electoral identity. We have no objection to cleaning up the voter list, but genuine people who came from Bangladesh after July 1987 and obtained voter cards later should be allowed to remain. These cards, issued by the Election Commission, enabled them to vote in past elections and elect governments. Now they are being called ‘Rohingya’ and ‘Bangladeshi Muslims,’ which is deeply painful. It is now clear that this SIR process is part of the CAA-NRC implementation,” she said.
Shantanu, who heads the pro-BJP faction of the All India Matua Mahasangha, told reporters at a news meet at the BJP office: “It is quite natural for the government to seek documents linking a person’s stay in Bangladesh. Our citizenship is not for everyone, and we cannot offer it to criminals from Bangladesh. To get citizenship, one must submit linkage proof. Some people are advocating citizenship without valid documents of their stay.”
“Children of those who came from Bangladesh before July 1987 need not submit proof, but those who came later must apply for citizenship with valid documents,” he said.
Shantanu termed the hunger strike “a pre-planned political movement, not a religious one. It is a political drama...to retain dead, dual and Bangladeshi voters in the list...Trinamool fears losing ground once SIR cleans up the voter list.”