Long queues of men and women, clutching papers, are formed in front of six tables under a tarpaulin sheet. As they reach the tables, they hand over their forms to more than 20 volunteers, who ask questions, check and file the papers, and give the applicants receipts.
A Matua heartland located about 90 km from Kolkata, Thakurnagar is sweltering these days. However, the queues under these tents – with no fans to relieve the heat or humidity – have only been lengthening as alarm over the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise in Bihar reaches this corner of Bengal located near the Bangladesh border.
At this camp run by the All India Matua Mahasangh, the applicants are seeking a ‘Matua card’ or a ‘Hindu card/certificate’, as the first step towards securing citizenship under the Citizenship (Amendment) Act – a guarantee against being left out when the EC turns its attention to poll-bound Bengal for an SIR.
An applicant has to pay Rs 80 per card. While the ‘Hindu certificates’ are issued by Hindu organisations, the Mahasangh issues the ‘Matua’ cards to its “believers”, says Mahasangh chief and BJP Gaighata MLA Subrata Thakur.
The CAA, which eases citizenship for non-Muslim refugees from India’s neighbouring countries, already covers the Matuas, who are Bengali Hindus originally from Bangladesh. But, Kamal Chandra Mondol, 67, who came to India from Khulna in Bangladesh with his father in 1970, and already has a Matua card, says he did not want to take a chance.
Lined up at the Thakurnagar camp with his papers, Mondol says: “In the cut-off list of 2002 (when the EC says it last conducted an intensive revision of electoral rolls in Bengal), my name is absent, though it is there in the voter list of 2004. I am here to get a Hindu card. I have heard it will be beneficial when the SIR comes.”
Thakurnagar Camp at North 24 Parganas issuing Matua Sect and Hindu Certificate . Thakurnagar is the Headquarters of Matua Sect. (Express photo by Partha Paul)
The papers Mondol has are the documents his father brought along when he entered India as a refugee 55 years ago. He says the family lived at camps in Jharkhand and Andhra Pradesh, before finally settling in Bengal. All through, it held on to the papers – which may now be the difference between whether the Mondol family is able to vote or not in the 2026 Assembly polls.
Mondol, who lives with his wife and two children at Chakla in North 24 Parganas and has travelled 33 km to the Thakurnagar camp, admits he wasn’t initially keen to apply when the CAA came into force. Many Matuas like him, who already have official documents such as voting and ration cards, felt registering for the CAA would mark them out as “non-citizens”.
However, now it’s not a matter of choice, Mondol says. “The CAA is essential. The SIR is coming, and I do not want to lose my voting right or to land in any trouble.”
Sadhan Chandra Sarkar, 62, has come to the camp from Rajarhat-Newtown of Kolkata. While he too belongs originally to Khulna, he came to India as late as 2009. “I don’t have a proper citizenship document of India. Now with the CAA (in which the cut-off date is December 2014), I want to get proper citizenship of India. I came here to get a Hindu card, which will help me apply for the CAA.”
Chitra Kirtania, 21, here from Barasat, 40 km away, says: “My brother has a Matua card, but we need a card for my father. After getting my father’s card made, we will get my mother’s and mine made. It will help us get citizenship of India.”
Bithika Kirtania, 35, a resident of Baduria, despairs: “Once, we were ousted from Bangladesh. Where will we go if we are driven out from here? My husband is a migrant worker in Kerala. So, I came here to get a Matua card and Hindu card.”
Subrata Thakur admits that SIR fears are behind the rush at the camp. “Our community members are spread throughout India as well as Bangladesh. We give a Matua card as an identity card to our followers. Now, Hindu cards are being given, to certify that they are Hindus.”
Next, the BJP MLA says, they will organise a camp where lawyers will accept affidavits from people to be included under the CAA. “It is true that initially, not many showed interest in the CAA. But people don’t want their voting rights to be lost. That is why you see such a large number of people pouring in… In the last seven days, more than 16,000 people have come,” Thakur says, adding that he is not sure of the numbers who have taken citizenship under the CAA since its rules were notified in March 2024.
The volunteers at the camp work from 7 am to 9 pm to deal with the rush, storing the information in a digital format.
Thakurnagar Camp at North 24 Parganas issuing Matua Sect and Hindu Certificate . Thakurnagar is the Headquarters of Matua Sect. (Express photo by Partha Paul)
One of the volunteers, Samir Biswas, 28, says: “Individuals fill up forms and give us two copies of their photographs. We ask for their Aadhaar cards or any other document of the Indian government, as well as proof of their having lived in Bangladesh earlier. We have a network both in India and Bangladesh and do strict verification. Only after this are the cards issued.”
Setu Roy, 22, is also volunteering at the camp, travelling every day from Bahura, 10 km away. Sourav Sarkar, 21, a college student, says they receive Rs 5 for every form they help fill. “That is our remuneration.”
With the EC’s SIR drive made a poll issue by anti-BJP parties, including the Trinamool Congress and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee – calling it a tactic to “steal votes” – BJP leaders and MPs outside Matua areas too are organising CAA camps, including Ranaghat MP Jagannath Sarkar. Sarkar’s office in Shantipur is manned by three volunteers and helps people file CAA applications online.
The Matuas used to work as peasants in East Bangladesh and started migrating to West Bengal after 1950. After 20-odd years of migration, they form the state’s second largest SC population, and are mostly concentrated in North and South 24 Parganas and Nadia, apart from bordering districts like Howrah, Cooch Behar, North and South Dinajpur, and Malda.
The state government estimates that the Matuas form around 17% of the total vote bank in the state and have a good presence in 30 Assembly seats. The Matua community’s own estimate is around 20% of the vote bank, with a direct impact in 40-45 seats.