For Karl Marx, religion was the opium of the masses. But for the political parties in West Bengal — even for the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM) — it is a straw to clutch in on the do-or-die election battle.
As the state is high on poll fever, both the CPM and the Trinamool Congress (TMC) are trying to woo the Matua community, which is a deciding factor in more than 74 constituencies. It has more than 1 crore followers in West Bengal and around Rs 4 crore across the country. When the Left front government tried to impress them with sops, the TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee had herself became a follower and became the chief patron of the All India Matua Mahasabha in 2010.
Moreover, the TMC is fielding Manjulkrishna Thakur — the son of Binapani Devi (Boroma), the 92-year-old spiritual leader of Matua Mahasabha —from Gaighata constituency in North 24 Parganas district. Gaighata has gone to polls on Wednesday. This move is supposed to swing majority of the community votes in favour of the TMC. Matuas are scheduled castes or scheduled tribes, who mainly live in eight districts of West Bengal — including Howrah, North and South 24-Parganas, Nadia, Cooch Behar, Malda, South Dinajpur and North Dinajpur.
“The votes of our community would be the deciding factor during this election. For years, political parties didn’t listen to our necessities. Now, Didi has become a part of us and is working for the overall development of Matuas. Our votes are crucial in atleast 78 assembly seats. About 50 per cent of voters in my seat are Matuas,” Thakur said. The Railways minister had even shared a dias with Boroma. She promised to upgrade the Thakurnagar railway station, build a stadium and a railway hospital.Earlier, the community was a vote bank for the left parties, but in 2008 Panchayat polls and 2009 Lok Sabha polls, those votes shifted in favour of Trinamool and it reflected in the results. The Left promised them a college and a function in the state capital to recognize the contribution of the Thakur family, the founding family of Matuas.
The state government has also offered the Matua Mahasangha 20 cottah of land to build a research oganisation and instituted a scholarship in the name of Harichand Thakur, its founder.To counter the Trinamool’s tactics, leaders of different political parties like Biman Bose and Brinda Karat of the CPM and Manas Bhunia, president of the West Bengal Pradesh Congress had visited Baroma. Infact, CPM stalwart Goutam Deb and the TMC leader Mukul Roy even shared a dias together with Baroma late last year.Though tried to nullify the impact of Matuas in the elections, Manoj Kanti Biswas, the CPM candidate in Gaighata also seemed to be on defence and attacked Banerjee’s moves. As political parties are fighting for their share of votes, people hope that the promises will turn out to reality once the elections are are over.