UNI SPECIALJayanta Roy ChowdhuryThakurnagar (West Bengal), April 27 -- As West Bengal heads for the final phase of polls on Wednesday, the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) and challenger Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are placing calculated bets on one single community, which both see as pivotal to the make-or-break game - the roughly three million-strong Matuas concentrated in villages along the border with Bangladesh.
While Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Thakurnagar in North 24 Parganas district on Sunday to pray at the Matua community's main temple in Thakurbari, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee began wooing the Matua voters early in November last year, when she led a 3 km long walk from Bongaon to Thakurnagar.
Since then, TMC cadres ...