Kolkata: With turf war getting intensified in the Matua heartland of Bengal amid SIR — especially after a split in the BJP-led faction of the All India Matua Mahasangha (AIMM) — the Trinamool-backed faction, led by MP Mamata Bala Thakur, started an indefinite hunger strike on Wednesday at Thakurbari against SIR.
The fasting protesters demand unconditional citizenship for all Matuas.
Mamata Bala's move came a day after the new formation of a "third front" within the AIMM, launched by Gaighata's BJP MLA Subrata Thakur, marking a renewed escalation of the long-standing power struggle at Thakurbari — the Matua community's spiritual and political nerve centre.
Mamata Bala earlier said, "As much as 95% of those excluded in SIR will be Matuas."
The hunger strike started around 11.45am, with senior members of the AIMM joining the protest. "We will continue this hunger strike until Centre changes the SIR rules and stops removing refugees' names from Bengal's voter rolls," said Pramatha Ranjan Biswas, president of the TMC-backed faction.
Reacting to the development, Union minister BJP MP Shantanu Thakur, dismissed the agitation as "a politically motivated drama to heat up the poll atmosphere."
He alleged that "many Rohingya and Bangladeshi infiltrators" were among those at the protest site and claimed that TMC was trying to mislead the Matuas for electoral gain. "The community will not be swayed by such theatrics," he said.
"Let the Matuas apply under CAA. We will urge the EC not to delete names of those missing from the 2002 voter list," added Shantanu. The minister's elder brother Subrata Thakur declined to comment.
Mamata Bala also warned, "Shantanu Thakur is misleading the Matuas with false assurances. There is no law stating that applying for CAA will prevent one's name from being struck off the voter list."