MATUAS GET THE MIGRANT BLUES

Poor Bangladeshis line up to leave, but SIR also stokes citizenship fears among Hindu refugees. Mamata targets the Matuas, a core BJP vote bank

- Arkamoy Datta Majumdar

ON THE RIVER-RIDDEN BORDER of North 24 Parganas, two conflicting visuals are juxtaposed.

At Hakimpur checkpost, under Basirhat subdivision, groups of Bangladeshi nationals who had entered India illegally are lined up, desperate to exit. Just 35 km away, in Bongaon, thousands of Hindu refugeesdominated by the Matuas-are on the streets. The object of their ire: the same bureaucratic behemoth that has sparked the first phenomenon as it rumbles across poll-bound West Bengal. Clearly, the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls is producing both predictable and deeply contrary effects.

Kajal Das, a small-time Awami League activist in his native Jashore district of Bangladesh, had crossed over to India on an August night in 2024. He was escaping the anti-Sheikh Hasina agitations, fearing reprisals. Later, his elder brother Kalipada brought Kajal's young son Jit into India for medical treatment. With SIR, their refuge has turned hostile turf.

Kajal and family are among those lined up at Hakimpur.

CHAPTER ONE: EXODUS

Hindus like Kajal are a minority in these migrant queues. Most are Muslim: masons, garment factory hands, househelps, labourers from units in Bardhaman and as far out as Bengaluru. Jahangir Alam has his family with him. Shilpi Akhtar stood alone, with a soiled bag and cracked suitcase, carrying "every bit" of her household. "I worked in a paper bag unit in Bardhaman. I made Rs 2,000-2,500 a month.

That was enough for me," says Shilpi.