The Trinamul Congress has begun an outreach initiative among the Matuas by communicating with small group heads — known as “Gosain”, “Pagal” and “Dalapati” who have strong influence on the community — ahead of Union home minister Amit Shah’s visit to their stronghold of Thakurnagar on Saturday.
On January 30, Shah is scheduled to address a public rally in Thakurnagar when he is expected to announce a timeline for implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act in an apparent attempt to pacify the Matuas.
The community had supported the BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls in anticipation of the implementation of the new citizenship act, but has been sulking since the CAA has remained only on paper till now.
“Senior Trinamul leaders like MP Saugata Roy and MLAs Bratya Basu, Jyotipriya Mullick attended such meetings with the community heads to convey our chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s stand that Matuas are Indian citizens and the BJP is confusing them by talking about the new act,” said a source.
“The heads of small groups in the community wield significant clout and that’s why we are reaching out to them,” said another Trinamul source.