Union Home Minister Amit Shah assured the Matua community that they have no reason to fear and that the BJP government will protect them. He stated that refugees from Bangladesh are Indian citizens and cannot be harmed. However, Shah did not clarify whether thousands of Matuas facing potential deletion from electoral rolls, due to issues linking their names to the 2002 roll, would be able to vote in the upcoming elections. The BJP has been running a citizenship drive, but a low number of applications have been processed.