Intensifying her fight against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), the National Register Of Citizenship (NRC) and the National Population Register (NPR), West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee reached out to the tribal Matua community during her rally in Bongaon in North 24 Parganas district on Tuesday.
“The ones who spread lies about refugees, my first job was to make a land for refugees. When I got elected as an MP for first time from the Jadavpur constituency, people told me to help to get land for the dalit community. I fought for them in Parliament after which refugees got land,” said Mamata Banerjee in a bid to strike a chord with the Matua community.
Mamata went on to say that, in the past, the Central Government did not help refugee colonies and it was the West Bengal government that legally helped them.
“Don't worry. I did so as no one could tell you that legally you cannot stay here. You can. I just want to tell you there are people who spread division, I'm not a part of that group,” added Mamata.
The Matua community has a stronghold in five Assembly constituencies in West Bengal which has been a Trinamool Congress(TMC) bastion in the past. In recent times, however, the community votes are divided between BJP and TMC. With the BJP slated to pose a tough challenge to TMC in the 2021 Assembly elections after making significant inroads in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Mamata is reaching out to her voters in the length and breath of her state. BJP won both Ranaghat and Bongaon, which have a sizeable Matua population. The Matua community can decide outcomes in 74 out of 294 Assembly seats in the state.
With the CAA, NRC and NPR uproar in recent months, Mamata is attempting to garner support from the community along with the minority community, with BJP’s onus to weed out illegal immigrants from the country. The Matua pockets of North 24 Parganas district also have a section of Hindu refugees from Bangladesh who have settled here.
Mamata also chose the Bongaon rally venue to speak out on the Shaheen Bagh protests on CAA.
“Some BJP gundas will say goli chalayenge and we won't protest? Remember our women won't sit with wearing bangles. Peace needs to be maintained. The UP Chief Minister says he will fire. So if they don't like you, they will fire? From Shaheen Bagh to Park Circus people are silently protesting. Firing is being done there. No one is being spared. Even students are being bashed,” she said.
