In an apparent bid to woo the Matuas, chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Tuesday conferred the Sri Sri Thakur Harichand-Guruchand award on Kapil Krishna Thakur and announced several sops for the community’s welfare. Mr Thakur is the sanghadhipati of the Matua Mahasabha.
The Matuas whose population is above a crore, is a Scheduled Caste community which has sizeable presence in 74 Assembly seats but is mainly concentrated in North 24 Parganas.
They were traditionally Left voters but in the last Lok Sabha polls, they voted for the Trinamul Congress following Mamata Banerjee’s persistent overtures.
Clearly with an eye on the Assembly polls, the Left Front government on Tuesday went all out to win back their support. To CPI(M)’s relief although following Ms Banerjee’s request, Binapani Debi Thakurani, the highly revered nonagenarian matriarch of the Matua Mahasabha, stayed away from the programme, she sent her message of goodwill to the chief minister. And her elder son Mr Thakur received the award. An evidently pleased Mr Bhattacharjee immediately accepted Mr Thakur’s request to name an educational institution after Sri Sri Guruchand-Harichand, the founders of the community.