Kolkata: Continuing the exodus among Bengal Bharatiya Janata Party leaders, a Union minister from the state has now quit the party’s state unit WhatsApp group.
Shantanu Thakur is Minister of State for ports, shipping and waterways and is a leader of the Matua community, which the BJP has considered a key vote bank in the state. Five Matua MLAs – Mukutmoni Adhikari, Subrata Thakur, Ambica Roy, Asok Kirtania and Asim Sarkar – have left the BJP state WhatsApp group in what local media has dubbed a “Matua rebellion.”
Five other non-Matua BJP MLAs too have left the same WhatsApp group.
“It seems the state BJP leadership does not think we (Matuas) have an important role within the organisation,” Thakur, who heads the influential All India Matua Mahasangha, told reporters on January 5.
The Bongaon MP had, a few days ago, voiced his reservation against the omission of some MLAs of the Matua community in the reconstituted BJP state and district committees.
The Bengali daily Anandabazar Patrika has quoted unnamed sources as having said that BJP chief J.P. Nadda has spoken to Thakur and the disgruntled Matua leaders.
MLA Mukutmoni Adhikari had said that the aspirations of the people of his constituency may not be fulfilled by the newly formed BJP state committee.
MLA Ambica Roy had, meanwhile, expressed intent to rejoin the BJP WhatsApp group on December 27, two days after quitting it and said he would sort out any difference with the party.
Also read: Bengal’s Matuas Are Caught Between BJP’s Identity Politics and the Citizenship Concern
Electoral significance
Matuas form one of the largest groups in the state’s border districts of North and South 24 Parganas, Nadia and elsewhere.
The community was wooed by the ruling TMC in the state and BJP alike before the state election. Ahead of the assembly polls, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had even visited Orakandi, the ancestral village of the sect’s founder Harichand Thakur during his March 2021 visit to Bangladesh.
The community has considerable influence in at least four Lok Sabha seats and 30-40 assembly seats.
Reacting to the exodus, BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar said, “We will sort out any misunderstanding with Shantanu Thakur. He is very much a part of the BJP family.”
When asked to comment, Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha MP Sukhendu Sekhar Roy told reporters that the BJP had used the Matua community for its own electoral gains.
“But it (BJP) was not concerned about their real development. It is clear now,” he added.
(PTI)
