PM Pays Tribute to Shree Harichand Thakur on His 214th Birth Anniversary and Extends Wishes for Matua Dharma Maha Mela 2025

On 27th March 2025, Prime Minister  paid tribute to Shree Harichand Thakur (1812–1878) on the occasion of his 214th birth anniversary and extended his best wishes for the Matua Dharma Maha Mela 2025, a key cultural and religious gathering of the Matua community.

 Who was Shree Harichand Thakur?

• Harichand Thakur was a Bengal-based social reformer and spiritual leader who founded the Matua sect, a reformist Vaishnavite movement rooted in Bhakti tradition.

• Born in 1812 in Orakandi (now in Gopalganj District, Bangladesh) to a Scheduled Caste (SC) peasant family, he is venerated as an incarnation of Lord Vishnu/Krishna by his followers.

• He championed social equality, opposed caste-based discrimination, and promoted inclusive devotion through chanting of Harinaam (name of God) irrespective of caste or gender.

• His teachings attracted marginalized groups such as Namasudras, Malis, Telis, and other oppressed castes, emphasizing dignity through spiritual and social reform.

 Legacy Continued: Guruchand Thakur

• His son, Shree Guruchand Thakur, expanded his father’s social mission. In collaboration with Cecil Silas Mead, a Christian missionary and educationist, he worked to reclassify the Chandala community as Namasudras in official records, a significant step toward caste identity reform.

• Guruchand is also credited with promoting education among the lower castes, especially through the establishment of schools and social institutions in rural Bengal.

Who are the Matuas?

• The Matuas are a socio-religious reformist community originally from East Bengal (now Bangladesh), primarily comprising Namasudras, a Dalit group historically subjected to severe caste-based oppression.

• Following the Partition of India (1947) and the Bangladesh Liberation War (1971), large-scale migration of Matuas took place due to religious persecution and social exclusion.

• In West Bengal, Matuas are now a politically significant Scheduled Caste community, comprising around 17.4% of the state's SC population, second only to the Rajbanshis.

 Matua Dharma Maha Mela

• The Matua Dharma Maha Mela is a major spiritual and cultural congregation held annually at Thakurnagar, North 24 Parganas, West Bengal — the headquarters of the Matua Mahasangha.

• The event celebrates the life, teachings, and social reform efforts of Harichand and Guruchand Thakur, drawing lakhs of devotees from across India and Bangladesh.

Contemporary Relevance

• The Matua community has shown strong support for the implementation of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), 2019, which aims to fast-track Indian citizenship for persecuted non-Muslim minorities from neighboring countries including Bangladesh.

• Many Matuas, particularly post-1971 migrants, expect the CAA to regularize their citizenship status, a key political issue in West Bengal.