DELAYING THE CAA EMBRACE

Mindful of the TMC's unrelenting attacks on the CAA and the inflexible, must-have domicile proof requires by its rules, the Matua leadership decide on a watchful wait

- Arkamoy Datta Majumdar

The Matua community of West Bengal-who have long demanded formal Indian citizenship has been the object of some assiduous courtship from the BJP in recent years. The legislative writ it enjoys at the Centre had allowed it to offer the Matuas a unique engagement ring: the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). But amidst the ruction of a protracted poll season, the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) here has managed to put a spoke-rather, a spook-in the wheel by drawing attention to the law's fine print.

Now the All India Matua Mahasangha, the community's umbrella outfit, led by Union minister and the BJP's Bongaon MP Shantanu Thakur, has informally asked its members to not apply for citizenship under the law until the Lok Sabha election is over.

The CAA seeks to fast-track citizenship for Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians-controversially excluding Muslims-who entered India from Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Pakistan before December 31, 2014. As a community that fled persecution in East Pakistan/ Bangladesh, with the wounds of history still raw, the Matuas are drawn to the CAA's special value, material and symbolic.