In Bengal, Matuas line up in millions for citizenship under CAA
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At a time when the national opposition is protesting alleged "vote theft" and the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar, millions of applications for Indian citizenship under the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, are pouring in from the Matua community across West Bengal.Umbrella organisations of Matuas - a socio-religious group of Hindus who migrated from Bangladesh due to religious persecution - along with the state BJP leadership , are working overtime to ensure Matuas and other refugees not listed in the state's voter rolls post 2002 SIR apply for citizenship under the CAA with the required documents."CAA applications will cross one crore people from the Matua community as a large number of people don't have names in the 2002 voter list," All India Matua Mahasangha general secretary Mahitosh Baidya told ET.The CAA allows migrants from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan who are Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis or Christians to obtain Indian citizenship.Special camps are being held across the state to create awareness and assist people with the application process, people aware of the matter said.Central minister Sukanta Majumdar has organised one such camp at his residence in Balurghat for CAA awareness. Several BJP MLAs and leaders are doing the same. Haringhata MLA Asim Sarkar is participating in the process in several camps."If someone does not have names in 2002 electoral rolls , they could be in trouble during the (upcoming) SIR. So, we are creating CAA awareness camps and guiding them about applications - how to fill up CAA forms and apply for citizenship," said Majumdar, the Balurghat MP.The 2002 SIR put the total number of voters in West Bengal at 45.8 million, spread over 80,000 polling booths. Sources said that in the 2002 exercise, 2.8 million names had been deleted from the electoral rolls.It is learnt that several camps have been organised in Barasat and Bongaon Lok Sabha constituencies and South 24 Parganas district to help the Matuas and other backward refugee communities apply under the CAA. Matua Mahasangha, Sanatani Sajan Samaj and several other organizations are assisting in this process.
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