Dynamics of Social Identities and Contemporary Citizenship Discourses of the Matuas in India’s Bengal

Abstract

Originally from the dalit Namasudras in eastern Bengal, Matuas were concerned with their own community development until they got actively involved in nationalist politics in British India. After partition, many Matuas settled in India’s Bengal—West Bengal—following their leader Pramatha Ranjan Thakur. But this Indian state was then suffering from acute resource shortage. So, accommodating the recurring refugee influx, mostly Namasudra-Matuas, led to rehabilitation outside the state. Thus, their caste concerns became suppressed by the necessity for permanent settlements and livelihood graduating into the recognition of Indian citizenship. The Government of India launched the Citizenship Act 1955, various rules and amendments thereto several times to tackle the discourses between refugeehood and citizenship of the Matuas. CAA 2019 and CAR 2024 tried to fulfil the Matuas’ prolonged demand for Indian citizenship but failed due to some conditions. This article seeks to investigate to what extent the social identities of the Matuas of West Bengal stand in intersections with the discourses of Indian citizenship. This is a qualitative article based on exploration of different legal documents on Indian citizenship, in the backdrop of various social and political imperatives. This approach of this article helps the readers to understand how the political parties are intertwined with the making, un-making and re-making of the social identities of the Matuas in West Bengal in different ways with the careful considerations of their electoral dividends and how these Matuas become mature enough to respond to them democratically with their evolutionary experiences.