Citizenship dreams of many Matuas on hold for now due to 'lack of Bangladesh residence proof'

After the recent notification of CAA rules, the Matua community's umbrella organisation on Tuesday asked its members to apply for citizenship only after the formation of a new government at the Centre if they don't have the necessary documents required to prove their previous residential addresses in Bangladesh.

The Centre has launched a portal for applying for citizenship under the CAA but many Matua members have faced difficulty in Column 5 of the portal during application. All India Matua Mahasangha has asked its members to not apply for citizenship under the new law for now as many of them do not have required documents.

Mahasangha's general secretary Mahitosh Baidya told ET: "Many Matua members tried to fill the online application but have faced difficulties. In column 5, documents related to Bangladesh have been sought like Bangladeshi passport, birth certificate, land deeds or business or job related documents. This column cannot be skipped as 'Not Applicable' and thus they cannot go to the next level."


"When Matuas came from Bangladesh as refugees, they got new documents here. They were not able to keep the documents of both the countries. Many have come without any belongings following atrocities in that country while most of them lost the Bangladesh related documents," Baidya said.

Mahasangha has urged its members, who don't have Bangladesh-related documents, not to worry. "We will contact the Centre and through our minister Shantanu Thakur, the issue will be sorted out. But they must wait till the formation of the new government," Baidya told ET.