Amit Shah skips SIR talk at Bengal event, focuses on Matua outreach

Amit Shah was addressing a gathering during the 152nd birth anniversary celebrations of Vaishnavite saint Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati

• Amit Shah visits Mayapur, focuses on Bhakti movement legacy
• Shah pays tribute to Matua leaders, highlights social reform
• Visit seen as BJP outreach to influential Matua community

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Amid uproar over Special Intensive Revision (SIR) Union Home Minister Amit Shah travelled to Mayapur in West Bengal’s Nadia district on Wednesday.

Mayapur is regarded as a cradle of the Bhakti movement. Shah’s visit is being seen as a calibrated outreach to the influential Matua community ahead of state polls. However, the minister did not mention SIR during visit.

Addressing a gathering during the 152nd birth anniversary celebrations of Vaishnavite saint Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati, Shah said he had come “not as the home minister, but as a devotee,” describing the founder of 64 Gaudiya Maths in India and abroad as a bridge between the Bhakti movement and modernity.

He also paid tribute to Harichand Thakur and Guruchand Thakur, founders of the Matua Mahasangha, crediting them with advancing social welfare, fighting untouchability, and promoting education and gender equality.

“Harichand and Guruchand Thakur, and the Matua society as a whole, took the idea of social reform forward,” Shah said, framing their legacy as part of a broader effort towards what he termed the “unification of Hindu society.”

Conveying Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “Hare Krishna” greeting, Shah added that whenever foreign dignitaries meet Modi, they are presented with a copy of the Bhagavad Gita. “The epicentre of the Bhakti movement was in Nadia and will spread in the days to come. I am sure we will be able to send the message of Viksit Bharat and Sanatan dharma to the world,” he said.

Why the visit matters

Sources told Times of India  that the visit is significant for the BJP’s engagement with the Matua community, which holds electoral influence across southern West Bengal, particularly in border districts. The Matuas — many of whom trace their roots to erstwhile East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) — have been central to debates around citizenship, refugee identity and welfare entitlements.

While Bengal BJP leaders maintained that Shah’s address was spiritual rather than political, the timing — months before polls — underscores the party’s continued effort to consolidate Matua support.

The outreach also comes amid sharp exchanges between the BJP and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who recently attacked the Election Commission over SIR, accusing it of “targeting people like terrorists” and drawing parallels with developments in Bangladesh.

In Mayapur, however, Shah kept the focus on faith, reform and cultural unity — blending devotional messaging with subtle political signalling in a key battleground state.