West Bengal elections: BJP is focusing on these communities, quietly engaged in changing the electoral picture

Posted on 17th Mar 2021 by rohit kumar

In West Bengal, the elections are going to be held in 8 phases, all the parties are eyeing the Muslim votes. 30% of the population here is of the Muslim community and has special importance in elections. But on the other hand, the Bharatiya Janata Party is quietly focusing its attention on the Scheduled Castes SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) communities.

 

Explain that during the 2011 census the tribal (ST) population in the state was 52 lakh 90 thousand, which was about 5.8% of the total population. According to the Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, the Scheduled Castes population was 23.51% i.e. 2 crore 14 lakhs of the total population of 913 million people here. The total population of the state is now estimated to be 10 crore 19 lakhs. The largest tribal population is found in Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri, Alipurduar, Dakshin Dinajpur, West Midnapore, Bankura, and Purulia districts. There are 16 reserved seats for ST. At the same time, 68 assembly seats out of 294 in the state are reserved for SC. But their influence is more than reserved seats.

 

BJP got 18 seats in the Lok Sabha elections with the help of SC / ST

 

It is known that in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, it was clear that the Bharatiya Janata Party would have failed to get 18 out of 42 seats without SC and ST votes here. In such a situation, the SC-ST votes are of great importance for the BJP even in the assembly elections.

 

Matua community gets citizenship bets under CAA

 

Significantly, about 60 Hindu sub-castes fall in the SC category. Of these, three are prominent - Rajbanshi, which constitute 18.4% of the total SC population, Namasudra (17.4%), and Bagdi (14.9%). The Matua community, which has been in discussion since 2019, is part of the larger Namasudra community. Originally most of the Namasudras came to India from East Pakistan at the time of the Partition. The announcement of the Union Home Minister Amit Shah on 11 February that the Citizenship Amendment Act, or CAA, will be implemented after the campaign to vaccinate against the Coronavirus disease in the Center country. It has become an election factor. Please tell that Shah made this statement to reach the Matua community in Bengal. The same community is credited with helping the BJP in 2019. The BJP has made a big bet by announcing citizenship under the CAA to the people of the Matua community. Shah made this statement at Thakurnagar in North 24-Parganas district. Thakurnagar is part of the Bongaon Lok Sabha seat, where the BJP won in 2019 by defeating Matua leader Shantanu Thakur against the Trinamool Congress (TMC) Mamata Bala Thakur.

 

Trinamool is showing fear of NRC

 

Mamta Banerjee is raising the issue of NRC, saying that if it is implemented then those people will have to go back to Bangladesh. However, the BJP is saying that by creating the CAA, it will give them citizenship here. Since more than 99 percent of the people in this community come from the Hindu community, there is a lot of hope for the BJP to get support. Mamta Banerjee is also campaigning to give land rights to the Matua people to cut the issue of citizenship of the BJP.