BJP MLA Ashoke Kirtania an ‘illegal voter’: Matua body files plaint

Kolkata: As discontent brews among sections of the Matua and Rajbanshi communities over the SIR process, the BJP finds itself in fresh trouble — members of the All India Matua Mahasangha’s Bongaon unit have filed a complaint at the Bongaon SDO office, accusing BJP MLA Ashoke Kirtania of being an ‘illegal voter’.

The members alleged that Ashoke Kirtania had illegally included his name in the 2002 electoral roll, even though his parents’ names were missing from that list. According to the Matua representatives, his parents’ names appeared only in 2011. Questioning how “a Bangladeshi immigrant” could become a legislator, they said they would also write to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, seeking his intervention in the matter.

The BJP’s bid to gain political mileage from the SIR ahead of the 2026 Assembly polls may backfire, with growing fear and resentment among Matuas and Rajbanshis. Once vocal supporters of the SIR and NRC, several BJP leaders now sense “impending danger” as large sections of these communities fear their names could be struck off the voter rolls — a prospect that has sparked deep unease within the saffron camp.

Infighting within the Bengal BJP has once again spilled into the open, with multiple leaders quitting the party’s WhatsApp group. Bongaon North MLA Ashoke Kirtania, Gaighata MLA Subrata Thakur, Haringhata MLA Ashim Sarkar, and Bongaon MP Shantanu Thakur have all exited the group. On Thursday night, MLA Hiran Chatterjee followed suit, saying the state BJP “never involves him in organisational work.”

The discord deepened after a BJP camp in Nadia — meant to reassure Hindus who migrated from Bangladesh — was allegedly vandalised by a faction within the party’s own local unit, exposing widening cracks in the saffron camp.

Ashim Sarkar earlier warned that the Matuas would not spare the BJP if the saffron party failed to give adequate attention to granting citizenship to people belonging to the community.

BJP MP Shantanu Thakur had also said that none of the Hindu refugees who came to India from Bangladesh would be disenfranchised.