Matua Community in Bengal after 1990; Internal Social Structure and the Place of Them in West Bengal Politics.Following the partition, the people in East Pakistan who believed in Matua ideology left their homeland and migrated to India and settled in West Bengal. Matua’s did not migrate to India together, the mass of them separated in parts and at arrival, they started settling in different places and Government refugee camps in India.11NotesBasu, Raj Sekhar. (July 2006), “Reinterpreting Dalit Movement in Colonial and Post-Colonial India”, Indian Historical Review , Vol - 33. No.2, New Delhi,pp.7-9 The next three decades of independence they united themselves in the heart of Bengal and gradually started influencing the Social, Economic and especially the Political sphere of Bengal Under the leadership of Pramatha Ranjan Thakur. The emergence of the Sara Bharat Matua Mahasangha(1986)22“Sara Bharat Matua Mahasangha Patrika”, 6th Edition,Binapani Press,Thakur Nagar, Thakur Bari,1998,p.7 added a new dimension to the movements of Lower Castes in West Bengal. Since then a major change has taken place in the matua movement in india. That is, power passes from the hands of individuals to the hands of organizations. It is safe to say that matuas emerged as the biggest representative of the Lower Caste Movements in Bengal.Although there is no class division within the Matuas, but after the formation of MM intellectuals are played major role. and one can certainly observe a subtle tripartite division among them based on their work efficiency in Matua Philosophy. This article attempts to analyze the political conscious of the Matuas, including Matua Women in all the stages of this division and to determine their position in Electoral Politics.Participation in politics indicates the direction of human empowerment and certainly, it is an important issue. “Research in participation and empowerment links them bi-directionally, empowered individuals may be more likely to participate in organizations, and participation promotes empowerment”.33Bakshi,S.R.(2002),Empowerment of Women and Politics of Reservation, Book Enclave,Jaipur,p.53 First of all, let’s focus on the issue of Political Participation. Different Sociologists have interpreted the issue of people’s involvement in Politics in different ways. According to McCloskey, the political participation of an individual is indicated by the people who, individually enters the administration and actively or passively participates in the process of electing the Government and in the formulation of general policies.44Dowse,Robert,E. (1972), Political sociology,john wiley and son,London,p.290 Verba and Nie, on the other hand, defined Political participation as – “Those activities by private citizens that are more or less directly aimed at influencing the selection of governmental personnel and/or the actions they take”.55Verba Sidney and Nie,H.Norman.(1972), Participation in America: Political Democracy and Social Equality, Harper Row, New York, pp.44-47 Thus, political participation is determined by the voluntary activities by individual citizen intended to influence the government and its policies, directly or indirectly. The people of the modern and powerful state become more aware of political policies and ideals and the majority of the entire population becomes aware of empowerment.The socio-economic environment will have a direct impact upon political participation, socio economic variables include education, occupation, income, age, caste, religion, sex, family background residence etc.66Lane, Robert,E. (1959), Political life : Why do people get involved in politics, Free Press, New York,p.94Schonfeld mentioned ten types of activities in field of political participation given the idea and method of it. Those are – 1) running for or holding public or party office, 2) belonging to a party or political organization, 3) working in an election, 4) attending political meetings and rallies, 5) making a financial contribution to a party or a political organization, 6) contacting public officials, 7) publicly expressing a political op inion in order to convince others, 8) engaging in political discussion, 9) voting and 10) exposing oneself to political stimuli.77Schonfeld,William,r.(1975),“The meaning of democratic participation” World Politics ,vol.xxviii,pp.136-37M Srinivas argue that the political process tends to strengthen the loyalties of caste, at least in the short run; ‘one of the short-term effect of universal adult franchisee is to strengthen caste’88Srinibasan,M.N.,Caste in Modern India and other essays,Asia Publishing House,1962,p.65 others like K. gough believe that politics in the modern sense tends to be disruptive of caste.99Beteille, Andre.(1970), Caste and Political Group Formation in Tamilnad ; Rajni Kothari (ed.) ’Caste in Indian Politics, Orient Longman,p.289 Politics is a competitive enterprise, its purpose is the acquisition of power for the realization of certain goals, and its process is one of identifying and manipulating existing and emerging allegiance in order to mobilise and consolidate position1010Kothari, Rajni. (1970), Caste in Indian Politics, Sangam Books Limited,p.4Thus, Political participation is a complex phenomenon which involves psychological, social, economic or political issues and depending on a citizen has a positive or negative impact on them.Social divisions and political consciousness within the MatuasIf we look at the Matua society of Bengal in the late nineties, we can see a fine dividing line within it. Analyzing the social position of these people at each level of division and their role in propagating the Matua ideology will make it easier to determine the political characteristics of the Matua society. Before the nineties, the Matuas in Bengal were a group centered around Sadhus , Gosains andPagals (communities of religious mendicants); but later, a group of writers, intellectuals and political thinkers emerged within the Matuas.1111Interview with Nandadulal Mohanta (Matua devotee and writer),Mondal para, Chand para,24pgs(N),15 February,2017 Overall, Matua society began to be divided into three main parts.The Matuas of first part of division are connected through spirituality. Their main goal is the pursuit of God. The second part is more interested in social and worldly progress rather than spirituality. They are the businessmen, government employees, political leaders, thinkers and intellectuals. The third part consists of commoners, socially and economically challenged, poor, hard-working people who believe in Matua principles and ideologies. They participate in all reformatory service and religious, spiritual works inside the Matua community with sincerity and enthusiasm and seek the path of social and economic liberation. All the festivities of the Matua community are arranged by socially and economically privileged people among them where the Sadhus, Gosains, Pagals and common people participate and engage.Those who are known as Sadhus, Gosains, Churanmanis place great importance upon spirituality. They propagate Matua ideology through the use of Matua scriptures, songs, yatra, leela kirtaan, kavigaanetc. and apply the Matua philosophy first hand in their practical life. The people from this first part of division have propagated and preached the Matua religiosity the most through their religious activities, folk songs, chants, sangkirtaans and tarjas.Located in the second stage of this hierarchy in the social division of Matuas are the intellectuals. By profession, they are businessmen, doctors, lawyers, high-ranking government bureaucrats, politicians. In the spheres of Politics, administration and socio-economy, they are the most powerful among Matuas and are known as ‘bhodrolok’. They are the people who are trying to improve the standard of life by financially, through education, jobs and business. This desire of improving living standard can be observed in all of the Matuas. However, those who successfully ascended and improved their life are the people that are taken into consideration here. They are the ‘face’ of Matua community and they lead the other two parts of Matuas. Their job is to determine political relationships, to review the socio-political and economic aspects and to provide funding. They make these donations with the goal of betterment of their community and religion.1212Interview with Professor Dr. Indra Mohan Mondal,29 April,2017 They usually settle the matters of policy and economy within the community, give speeches, expresses the beliefs and needs of Matuas in written form. The presence of these intellectuals in all Matua administrative committees are pretty high. In comparison to other people of the Matua community, these Intellectuals enjoy more benefits everywhere, whether in Matua society or outside. They usually exercise most of the government facilities as well which the people of the third part of the community do not get. This causes an inherent economic equality inside the community.1313Interview with gosai Pagal Volanath, Memari,Burdwan,17 August,2017Matua intellectuals are simultaneously theoretical leaders and vanguards of social movements. The conflict within Matuas is essentially an expression of the grievances of these Matua intellectuals. However, the conflict is about opposing ideas. The most important thing in this case is - this fight is completely ideological and regarding the differences between political ideology and the ideology of the Matua philosophy, its interpretation and the method of applying those policies. However, the conflict was not so obvious before and there, indeed, was various reasons behind it. The rate of education was low which resulted in the lack of the rate of development of consciousness. Another important reason is that there was poverty, hunger and human rights challenges. As a result, there was a general lack of awareness; the inevitable consequence of which was to refrain from thinking about any subject independently or not getting the opportunity of doing so. So the more the lower caste people of the community are coming across those opposing ideologues, the more they are being able to think independently and to grow consciousness about Matua ideologies and policies.The main objective of the Matua movement is the upliftment of the lower castes. Keeping this objective in mind, various organizations are being formed which are working towards the common goal by their own efforts. Each organization is run by these educated intellectuals. Although these small organizations are morally supported by the All India Matua Mahasangha, they are by no means a branch of the Matua Mahasangha. Organizations are managed by individuals or by the efforts of a few. Some of the organizations working for the welfare of Matuas in Bengal are: Hariguru Chand Chetna Mancha (1997) Nadia, Namasudra Samaj Sangstha (1986) Kolkata, Hari Chand Seva Sangha(1991) Bardhaman, Matua Seva Ashram (1993) Bangaon, All India Bengali Refugee Coordination Samiti (1993) Nagpur Maharashtra, Matua Research Council (2001) North 24 Parganas, Hari Guru Chand Smaranam (2006) Mazdia, Bagda Hariguru Chand Bhakta Seva Sang (1998) Bagda, Barisal Namashudra Seva Samiti (1999) Thakur Pukur.Now the question arises that why these small organisations were formed in the first place despite the active presence of All India Matua Mahasangha and their district, block and region based organisations? The reasons are – 1) Matter of personal choices with Matua Mahasangha, 2) differences in political ideologies with them, 3) some of the lower caste namasudra people were not a believer of Matua religion, 4) demonstration of personal power , 5) lack of strong Mahasangha branch in that place, 6) to be by the side of people in difficult times in a more convenient way, 7) to raise social and political awareness as well as religious 8) to establish personal ideals. These organizations are formed in a city-centric way and their functions are limited to a handful of people. Although their policies are determined by the demands of common people, they do not have a mass base per say. However, whether that might happen in future or not can be said for sure. In this case, the driving question is of Ideological Domination.1414Chatterjee, Joya, Bengal Divided: Hindu Communalism and Partition 1932–1947, Cambridge University Press, 1995,pp.96-98 The question of ideological domination is definitely the origin of the growing antagonism within the Matuas, but the effect of that is not always negative on its people. However, an all-encompassing movement from the united Matuas might have influenced the lower caste societies of Bengal in a greater extend.Within the social divisions, maintaining good relations between all the parts of the society is an important issue of Matua community. The first part of them, the religious preachers work with others to not only discuss spiritual matters, but also works for the worldly development of the lower castes. I have observed in my research that Gosains andPagals are discussing their preaching with their disciples and devotees as well as explaining where the liberation of the lower castes lies in worldly progress using the religious ceremonies of Matua’s like‘Jagaraani Sangeet’ or regular evening meet-ups.1515Hari ‘Guruchand chetona mancha patrika’, 21st Edition,Nagarukhra,Nadia,2016,pp.3 The issues of education, jobs, economic development and social welfare are being discussed there at great length. This is the specialty of the Matua’s in the lower-class social movement which has been present since the birth of the Matua movement. Although spiritual progress is a matter of great importance, Matua’s believe that it is never possible to deny worldly progress. In this case, they have been carrying out various reformative works of setting up schools through their own efforts and taking all the responsibility of educating the poor meritorious students.1616Interview with Moni Gosai,Kastodanga,Nadia,11Th February,2015Now I would like to discuss the third part of the Matua community who are socially politically and economically backward. They are the highest stakeholder of the community and also the poorest of them all. By profession, they are factory workers, day laborers and workers of small cottage industries. Their lives are extremely difficult due to the lack of money, lack of education and lack of citizenship and lack of government opportunities. 80 to 85% of the Matua population consists of these people.1717Interview with Sara Bharat Matua Mahasangha President Ganapati Biswas,Thakur Nagar,10 April, 2012 They are mostly the workers in the surrounding urban areas. A group of these people recently migrated to India from Bangladesh. Some of them were able to bring money with them, while others were forced to leave Bangladesh because of their religious identity. The biggest problem of these people are the lack of citizenship. They do not get minimal government opportunities and even become destitute in their attempt to send their children to school.1818Interview with Tridiv Bala Secretary of ‘Matua Jagoron Patrika’ They are often subjected to various social oppression and mocked by the upper caste people with derogatory terms. Like in Bengali terms- dhur,tarkata,Bangladeshi, pith kata,blood. 1919Interview with Rabindra Nath Halder Secretary of Nakpul Hari Guruchand Madir Committee The Matua people of the third part have used their experience to spread the Matua movement among the people to a great extent. Through acquaintances they have been spreading the Matua ideology among the Namasudras and other lower castes. In an interview, Manaranjan Bepari, an eminent writer from subaltern society, said that the reason for the current spread of the Matua society is the personal identity of the common Matua people and also, due to the fact that the lower caste people who are migrating to India are trying to find a powerful community and being comfortable within the Matua identity. He also admitted that most of the lower castes who are still present in Bangladesh believe in the Matua ideology and they are merging with the Matuas here upon their arrival.2020Interview with renowned writer Monoranjan Byapari,Jadavpur,Kolkata,22sept,2016