Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday offered prayers at the Thakurbari Temple (also called the Matua Thakur Temple) at Thakurnagar in the North 24 Parganas district—a move that has gone viral ahead of the second phase of Assembly elections in the state on April 29.
"Prayed at the Matua Thakur Temple earlier today. The ideals of Sri Sri Harichand Thakur Ji and Sri Sri Guruchand Thakur Ji continue to illuminate our society," Modi wrote in an X post on Sunday.
The shrine serves as the spiritual centre of the Matua Mahasangha, a socio-religious movement aimed at uplifting the Namasudra community through social reform and education.
Originating in Orakandi—once in undivided Bengal, and now a part of Bangladesh—the Matua Mahasangha's founders, Harichand Thakur and Guruchand Thakur, have an important place in the temple.
It is the timing of the temple visit that has gone viral. PM Modi visited the central shrine of the Matua community ahead of a rally at Bongaon in the North 24 Parganas district, which contains parts of significant constituencies among the 142 that will head to the polls on April 29.
This highlights the BJP's renewed focus on the politically influential Matua community, which played a significant role in the saffron party's surge in the 2021 elections in the state.
In a speech at the rally earlier today, he reiterated the BJP's promise that all refugees who once took shelter in India—following religious persecution in Bangladesh—would be granted citizenship under the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
"I pledge before Matua Namasudra community members that they will receive citizenship through CAA," he said at the rally.
This comes as the Matua-dominated constituencies of North 24 Parganas and Nadia have been complicated by the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter rolls, which led to about 3.25 lakh names cut from North 24 Parganas alone.
In several constituencies such as Gaighata and Bagda, deletion rates were about 67-80 per cent for flagged voters.
It is these post-SIR deletions that have polarised the political equation within the Matua community.
The Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) has repeatedly hit out at the BJP over the removal of the Matuas, Rajbanshis, and other such minority communities from the voter rolls.
The TMC has also claimed earlier that the Matua community was being used for its political sway, after which the BJP would allegedly "brand (them) infiltrators", and has also promised that it would stand with the minorities if elected for a fourth term in the state.