Aggrieved Matuas staged demonstrations on Saturday in different parts of Ranaghat parliamentary area, a politically significant belt for BJP, demanding that their citizenship be secured.

The agitators shouted slogans such as ‘Go Back Modi’.

The PM could not attend reach the rally site as dense fog had prevented his helicopter from landing at the makeshift helipad in Taherpur this morning.

BJP sources said, "We had a phenomenal rise in since 2019 Lok Sabha elections in North 24 Parganas, Nadia and parts of Jalpaiguri because Matuas voted for us. But a large section of Matuas anxious about the SIR outcome that deleted thousands of voters belonging to the community.”

"Modiji didn’t say anything about their crisis during the rally, and it is upsetting for Matuas," the sources added.

TMC Rajya Sabha MP Mamatabala Thakur, belonging to the Matua community, said, "BJP has been giving false promises to the community for a long time, but our Prime Minister has nothing more to give them. Instead, he has taken away their voting rights what they used to enjoy in elections. BJP has got Matua votes by giving them false promises."

Out of 17 Matua-dominated assembly constituencies in Nadia and North 24 Parganas district, BJP had won all the seats in 2021 assembly polls.

The saffron party had also won Ranaghat and Bongaon Lok Sabha seats in Matua belts in 2024 elections.

Interestingly, around 85,000 Matua voters’ names in Bongaon sub-division have been deleted from the electoral rolls following the SIR.

Since the SIR kick-started in Bengal, the BJP has asked Matuas not to worry and has launched a massive drive to facilitate citizenship for eligible members of the community.