Matua group calls Bengal road blockades over voter list row, assault claim in Thakurnagar
Telegraph | 4 January 2026
Protests over alleged voter list exclusions and an assault on a Matua religious leader escalated on Sunday after a TMC-backed Matua group called for statewide road blockades across West Bengal.
The bandh call was issued by the Trinamool Congress-supported faction of the All India Matua Mahasangha, protesting what it termed the exclusion of “legitimate voters” during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
The immediate trigger was an alleged attack on a Matua ‘gosai’ from Shyamnagar, who had visited the Thakurnagar temple complex in North 24 Parganas district to seek answers after his name was reportedly deleted from the voter list.
Leaders aligned with the TMC accused supporters of Union minister Shantanu Thakur of assaulting the gosai, a charge the BJP has denied.
Tensions in Matua-dominated areas have been simmering since December 24, when protests over the draft electoral rolls turned the Thakurnagar temple precinct into a flashpoint.
TMC leaders claimed several supporters of Rajya Sabha MP Mamata Thakur were injured during clashes allegedly involving followers of Shantanu Thakur.
Since then, resentment within sections of the Matua community has intensified, with leaders describing the incident as a “humiliating blow” to 'gosais'.
The Mahasangha alleged that cadres linked to the BJP and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, acting at the behest of Shantanu Thakur, had mounted a “planned attack” on Matua religious leaders.
It said Monday’s road blockades would demand an immediate probe into the assault and restoration of deleted voters in the electoral rolls, The protests come as the EC’s SIR draft rolls and the impending second phase of verification hearings inject fresh uncertainty into the BJP’s Matua vote base, which has underpinned the party’s rise in around 40–50 assembly constituencies since 2019.
For the Matuas, a Dalit Hindu refugee community that migrated from Bangladesh over decades following religious persecution, the first statewide SIR since 2002 has revived anxieties around identity and citizenship.
With a decisive presence across North 24 Parganas, Nadia and parts of South 24 Parganas, the community now finds itself at the centre of an electoral churn with potential consequences for the 2026 polls.
The draft rolls released after the first round of scrutiny have heightened apprehension among Matua families, many of whom fear the second phase of hearings could expose documentation gaps and lead to loss of voting rights.
Statewide, 58,20,898 names have been excluded post the publication of the draft rolls, reducing West Bengal’s electorate from 7.66 crore to 7.08 crore.
Beyond deletions, EC data show about 1.36 crore entries flagged for logical discrepancies and nearly 30 lakh voters categorised as unmapped, taking the number of voters who may be called for hearings in the second phase to around 1.66 crore.
Matua leaders across party lines claim a disproportionate share of these voters belong to their community.