Matua matriarch’s last rites performed in Bengal, rift within family out in open

Thakurnagar (West Bengal), March 7 (IANS) The last rites of Matua matriarch Binapani Devi, popularly known as "Boroma", were performed on Thursday with full state honours in Thakurnagar in North 24 Parganas district, even as her family members remained torn between the BJP and the Trinamool Congress, which entered into an altercation over the timing of the funeral.

The mortal remains of the Dalit leader, who passed away late on Tuesday following multi-organ failure at the state-run SSKM Hospital in Kolkata, were originally scheduled to be consigned to the flames on Wednesday afternoon, but it was delayed by a day to give the devotees a chance to pay their last respects.

Eyewitnesses said the family members belonging to the two opposing political parties engaged in a war of words over the timing of the funeral in front of lakhs of devotees who thronged the area.

West Bengal Food Supplies Minister Jyotipriyo Mullick admitted that there was a long standing dispute within the family. He said the family feud came out in the open when those aligned with the Bharatiya Janata Party wanted to delay 'Boroma's' funeral.

"There are some internal problems within the family. We are trying to solve the issue. There should not be any politics over 'Boroma' as she was like a goddess and above all political differences," said Mullick, who was present at the funeral.

"Unfortunately, the BJP is trying to engulf the family with its dirty politics. We are strongly against this. They (the BJP aligned faction) wanted to deliberately delay the funeral. But we did not want that as her body might have started to decompose. Such incidents are uncalled for on a day like this," Mullick said.

Binapani Devi, who was accorded a state funeral as promised by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, held huge sway over the Dalit community, which migrated in large numbers from Bangladesh (then East Pakistan) after Partition.

The community was a key force behind the Trinamool Congress' triumph over the 34-year-old Left Front government in the 2011 Assembly elections.

Devi's elder son Kapil Krishna Thakur contested and won on a Trinamool ticket from Bongaon in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. After his death, his wife Mamata Thakur fought the election and won on a ruling party ticket.

The political rift within the family became evident after Devi's younger son Manjul Krishna Thakur, a former Minister in the Mamata Banerjee government, joined the BJP along with his son Shantanu Thakur, who was influential in arranging Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Thakurnagar in February this year.

Shantanu Thakur on Wednesday demanded a central probe into the passing away of his grandmother to ascertain if the death was natural.