Suspended Trinamool Congress MLA Humayun Kabir has floated his own political outfit, the Janata Unnayan Party (JUP), weeks after triggering a major controversy with plans to build a Babri Masjid-style mosque in West Bengal’s Murshidabad district ahead of next year’s assembly elections.
Announcing the launch on Monday, Humayun Kabir said he would contest the polls from Beldanga and Rejinagar constituencies in Murshidabad. He also named Manisha Pandey as his party’s candidate from a Murshidabad Assembly seat, a move seen as an attempt to broaden his political appeal.
“This party is being formed to work for the common man,” Kabir told reporters.
Kabir, a three-time MLA with past stints in the Congress and the BJP before joining Trinamool, is expected join hands with Asaduddin Owaisi’s AIMIM for the high-stakes polls. He has said he is in talks with the Hyderabad-based party to counter both the BJP and the ruling TMC in the state.
The launch of Kabir’s JUP comes against the backdrop of his suspension from the Mamata Banerjee-led party on December 4. The party acted after Kabir announced plans to construct a “Babri Masjid” in the communally sensitive Murshidabad district.
Announcing the suspension, senior Trinamool leader and Kolkata Mayor Firhad Hakim said the party had repeatedly warned Kabir. “The party will not have any relation with him,” Hakim said.
Kabir went ahead with the plan regardless, laying the foundation stone for the mosque in Beldanga on December 6, which coincided with the anniversary of the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition in Ayodhya.
The event was held under heavy security, with riot police and central forces deployed across the area.
A recitation of the Quran preceded the ceremony, during which slogans of ‘Nara-e-Takbeer’ and ‘Allahu Akbar’ were raised.
Kabir claimed the event drew thousands, including clerics from Saudi Arabia. Visuals showed supporters carrying bricks on their heads as Beldanga was turned into a virtual fortress to prevent unrest.
The BJP mounted a sharp attack on the ruling party over Kabir’s stunt. BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya accusing Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of pushing the state towards turmoil.
“This so-called mosque project is not a religious effort but a political one, designed to inflame emotions and consolidate vote banks,” he claimed.
Senior BJP leader Dilip Ghosh echoed the charge, saying, “TMC is using Humayun Kabir as a freelancer to create tension before elections.”
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