Trinamool Congress MLA Humayun Kabir’s claim of laying the foundation stone of a “Babri Masjid” in West Bengal’s Murshidabad district has stirred politics in the election-bound State, with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) claiming that this is an attempt to turn “West Bengal into West Bangladesh”.
The claims of construction of “Babri Masjid” have given a handle to the BJP, with State BJP president Samik Bhattacharya saying that such remarks were an attempt to turn “West Bengal into West Bangladesh”.
Mr. Kabir, who is an MLA from the Bharatpur Assembly constituency, has over the past several days stated that he will start construction of “Babri Masjid” on December 6, the day the Babri Masjid was demolished in Ayodhya in 1992. While the place where the mosque will be set up has not yet been confirmed, posters in support of “Babri Masjid” have come up in the Beldanga area of the district.
Mr. Kabir has said that even the Supreme Court had directed that a mosque should be constructed in Ayodhya, but any mosque which is “constructed by non-Muslims is not considered holy”.
“It is my constitutional right to construct a mosque,” the MLA said. Mr. Kabir has even appeared to throw a challenge to the State government and said, “If the State government can give honorarium to Durga Puja clubs, hold a carnival and all of it is constitutional, then how can construction of a mosque be unconstitutional”. The Bharatpur MLA has, over the past several months, often targeted his party and even threatened to quit and contest Assembly elections as an independent candidate.
