Calling suspended TMC MLA Humayun Kabir’s rhetoric ”the language of Muhammad Ali Jinnah”, senior BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari on Monday said it was a direct ”challenge to Bengali Hindus”.
The remarks came amid escalating political tensions over the foundation stone laying of a Babri Masjid-styled mosque by Kabir at Rejinagar in West Bengal’s Murshidabad district on December 6, triggering a fierce war of words between Kabir, the BJP and the ruling Trinamool Congress.
Addressing a press conference, Adhikari said the BJP had no objection to the construction of any religious institution but strongly opposed the ”symbolic and provocative naming” of the proposed mosque after Babur.”We have clearly said build temples, mosques, churches and gurdwaras legally, on your own land, with your own community’s funds.
But what happened in Rejinagar was not religious devotion. It was a display of fundamentalist assertion under state patronage,” he alleged.Targeting Kabir directly, the BJP leader said, ”The language Humayun Kabir is now using is no different from the language of Huseyn Suhrawardy and Muhammad Ali Jinnah.
This is a challenge, a war cry, not the language of coexistence.Referring to heavy police deployment during the programme, Adhikari alleged double standards in governance.”When a Saraswati Puja is held in a college, students are forced to approach the high court. When I burn Holika Dahan in Bhabanipur, it must be after 9 pm inside a lane under court orders. Even idols of Goddess Kali are put in prison vans. But here, without permission, loudspeakers, lakhs of people and donation collections were allowed with police backing,” he said.
He further claimed that glorifying Babur amounted to insulting India’s civilisational heritage.”Babur was not an Indian. He came as a plunderer, destroyed temples, forced religious conversions and looted gold and diamonds. Every Indian has the right to oppose the naming of any structure after him,” Adhikari said.
The suspended MLA, meanwhile, sought to turn the debate into an explicit contest of vote banks, urging Muslim voters to consolidate politically.Escalating the rhetoric further, Adhikari warned, ”If Hindus do not unite to remove Mamata Banerjee, many areas will be renamed after Aurangzeb in the future.”
The TMC accused the BJP of fuelling communal polarisation.State Urban Development Minister Firhad Hakim said, ”Repeated attempts are being made to divide Bengal on religious lines. Some people are actively helping this conspiracy. Bengal does not believe in religious fanaticism.” Kabir, in a counter-offensive, accused Banerjee of systematically reducing Muslim political representation in the state.”In 2011, there were 67 Muslim MLAs.
In 2016, it came down to 57. In 2021, it was reduced to just 44 through conspiracy,” he claimed, appealing for consolidation of Muslim representation in 90 minority-dominated seats.The original Babri Masjid was demolished on December 6, 1992.More than three decades later, as West Bengal heads toward the 2026 Assembly elections, the proposed ’new Babri style mosque’ on the banks of the Ganga in Murshidabad has revived a volatile political faultline, sharpening both religious rhetoric and electoral strategies across the state.
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