By Tirthankar Mitra
KOLKATA: As 2026 Assembly polls in West Bengal are inching closer, two brothers both sweating by BJP ideology taking on each other have hit the headlines as they belong to the influential Thakur family whose word counts in the Matua community in the state tipping the electoral balance in 30 Assembly segments of West Bengal. While Bongaon MP Santanu Thakur is the Union minister of state for ports, shipping and waterways in the Union Cabinet, his elder sibling Subrata represents Gaighata in the state Assembly.
Two separate camps organised by the duo to issue “Matua card” or a “Hindu card/certificate” lie at the heart of the trouble. These camps to give the certificates have come up amid concerns in the community about a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls expected in West Bengal which goes to the polls next year.
The siblings feel that acquiring these papers is the first step in acquiring citizenship. Possession of these certificates will dissuade the SIR functionaries from labelling any Matua as foreigners’ read Bangladeshis.
Many Matuas migrated from erstwhile East Pakistan to West Bengal post Partition and thereafter. The formation of Bangladesh did not stop the surge of Matua migrants, many of whom do not have the citizenship documents
The community continues to grow in size. The Matuas are the second biggest ethnic group in the state and their support to the saffron helped it to bag some of the 18 Lok Sabha seats in 2019 Lok Sabha polls. This was BJP’s best ever poll performance
The Matuas form 17 per cent of the total vote bank in the state. Their numbers make them a key factor in the political scenario of West Bengal. At the moment, the fissures have turned into cracks in the family who have the last word in Matua affairs. The family home is based 90 kilometres from Kolkata in Thakurnagar.
On the outcome of this spat depends who will be the final arbiter of the crucial Matua votes. And this is not the first time dirty linen of the Thakur family is being washed in public.
In 2014, Kapil Krishna Thakur broke the family’s political consensus backing the Trinamool Congress after his elder brother and Bongaon MP Manjul Krishna Thakur’s death When he wanted the Bongaon seat for his son Subrata, the TMC nominated Mamatabala, the widow of Manjul Krishna. Kapil Krishna broke away from TMC. He was accompanied by his sons to the saffron camp and was politically rewarded with Subrata and Santanu getting nomination.
It was Subrata Thakur who first set up a camp in front of Thakurbari which houses the headquarters of All India Matua Mahasangha. It is headed by his younger sibling Santanu who set up another camp nearby Nat Mandir, a quiet indicator to larger number of Matuas to attend it as it is the place where they offer their prayers.
Subrata objected to it while Santanu replied that there is nothing wrong in using it for the community’s welfare. It is at this point the state BJP leadership felt it should step in to stop any division in what they consider to be their vote bank.
Seeking to make the intervention appear to be a subtle move, state BJP chief Samik Bhattacharya has announced a plan to meet feuding factions on a weekly basis and mend fences. Though the Matua issue which is on a boil did not find any mention in his announcement, the political observers are reading between the lines.
Meanwhile, Subrata has accused his brother Santanu of trying to give nomination to the latter’s wife Soma for the Gaighata Assembly segment. Subrata represents it now. Samik Bhattacharya has stated that the party has no intention to intervene in a domestic dispute.
Mamatabala, the aunt of the feuding duo who was first approached to play peacemaker found no headway into the matter. However, she has said that the Trinamool will reap political dividend from the squabble.
Santanu has accused his brother Subrata of engaging in ‘theatrics” and planning to join Trinamool Congress. A wedge will be driven into the state BJP and Thakur family in the event of Subrata changing political allegiance.
But the most significant fallout of such desertion almost on the eve of 2026 Assembly polls will be on the Matuas. No longer will they vote one and all for the BJP. The political fortunes of the saffron camp in West Bengal is on a downswing since declaration of 2024 Lok Sabha poll results. The bypoll results tell a similar tale.
The Trinamool leadership is so far noncommittal. But it is unlikely to shy away from Subrata joining its camp as it would be another push to the BJP who will have its back to the wall. (IPA Service)
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