West Bengal’s Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday conducted a veiled excavation for Union Interior Minister Amit Shah as he is scheduled to have lunch with a Matua Dalit family near Kolkata on Friday during his two-day visit to the state.
“For the last 20-25 years, until Boroma [elder mother of Matua community] she was alive, used to take care of her. He used to admit her to the hospital. I was the first to visit Las Matuas and began to develop the area. Some people are new and try to parachute. They won’t know … ”Banerjee said.
The All India Matua Mahasangha hosted Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rally in Thakurnagar in the northern district of 24-Parganas ahead of the 2019 national elections.
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Shah arrived in Calcutta on Wednesday night. “I will arrive in West Bengal today [Wednesday] for a two day visit. I am eager to interact with BJP [Bharatiya Janata Party] karyakartas [workers], the people of Bengal, people from the media and people from various communities, ”Shah tweeted before his arrival.
Top BJP leaders, workers and supporters showered flower petals and blew conch shells to welcome Shah when he arrived in Kolkata.
Encouraged by its impressive advances in the 2019 elections in which the BJP won 18 of the 42 state parliamentary seats, the party now hopes to replicate the performance in the 2021 West Bengal assembly.
Shah is scheduled to address the rallies in Bankura and Kolkata on Thursday and Friday. You will visit Dakhsineswar temple and meet Padma Bhushan Pandit Ajoy Chakraborty.
“I was having lunch with an Adivasi family in Bankura and a Matua family near Kolkata. He is scheduled to fly back to Delhi on Friday evening, ”said a BJP leader.
The Matua community has a presence in at least 70 of the 294 assembly seats in the state. The community is the deciding factor in five seats. In the 2019 elections, the Matuas supported the BJP. Shantanu Thakur of BJP, a matua, defeated his aunt, who was ruling Mamata Bala Thakur of the Trinamool Congress, Bongaon.
Banerjee said that the matuas make up about 16% of the state’s population and are not limited to Bongaon in the North 24 Parganas district alone. “[They] they are spread throughout the state. We plan to establish a Matua Development Board. I have also allocated a budget of 10 million rupees, ”Banerjee said while authorizing an ambulance for the people of Matua in the Nadia district.
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