New Delhi: A yet-to-be-built mosque bearing the name of Mughal emperor Babar, almost five centuries after his death, has come to haunt West Bengal’s Trinamool Congress government nearly months before state elections are held next year.
Party MLA Humayun Kabir’s call to lay the foundation for a mosque modelled on the erstwhile Babri Masjid structure in Ayodhya — after an initial hesitation — finally forced the Trinamool leadership to suspend him.
It was a high-stakes political dilemma for party Chairperson and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to contain a possible communal risk and party indiscipline.
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There was also a concern over choosing to alienate her core minority voters or handing the state’s principal opposition Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) fresh political ammunition.
Trinamool Congress’ poll wagon largely runs on the “double-M” engine.
The winning mantra has been her ‘mahila’ (women), and Muslim vote bank.
Mamata Banerjee’s government has an array of populist schemes targeted at the two groups.
However, witnessing a polarisation building up in favour of the BJP and as advised by pollsters, Trinamool Congress has been trying what some observers refer as “soft Hindutva”.
After facing flak over a unilateral monthly stipend to mullahs and muezzins, the West Bengal government introduced a similar financial package for priests.
Simultaneously began the building of grand temples, including the recently inaugurated Jagannath Mandir at Digha in East Medinipur district.
The vacillation has earned criticisms from across sections, where other political parties have found a chance to break minority votes.
Even the Hyderabad-based All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIN), led by Asaduddin Owaisi, has launched a membership drive in the minority-dominated districts of West Bengal.
Though Owaisi tried to field AIMIM candidates in 2021 West Bengal Assembly polls following its impressive show in the 2020 Bihar Assembly elections, he subsequently decided against — as an analyst put it — introducing Hyderabadi biriyani to a region that loves it cooked Awadhi style.
However, this time the AIMIM appears to be set for testing the Bengali palate with its cuisine after another satisfactory result in adjoining Bihar this year.
West Bengal districts bordering Bangladesh, especially Murshidabad, Malda, Uttar Dinajpur, Nadia, among others, has Muslim population ranging between 50 and 70 per cent of the total.
Incidentally, in April this year, violence broke out in Murshidabad district following protests against the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025.
Protesters turned violent, vandalising and setting fire to homes, leading to an unrest where many Hindu families were forcefully made to vacate their homes.
West Bengal’s opposition parties, especially the BJP, alleged tacit administrative support for the arsonists.
They also claim that similar understandings exist in allowing illegal immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh which has skewed the demography in West Bengal.
Murshidabad district has been a strong base for the Trinamool Congress. All three Lok Sabha constituencies in the district are now represented by Trinamool Congress MPs.
Of these, Murshidabad and Jangipur have been won by the party in the last two Parliamentary polls.
Baharampur, which has been represented by Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury for five consecutive times, went to Trinamool’s Yusuf Pathan in the 2024 Lok Sabha election.
Of the 20 Assembly seats in these Parliamentary constituencies (one seat is in Nadia district), 18 went to the Trinamool in 2021 state poll.
Humayun Kabir represents Bharatpur, an assembly seat in the Baharampur Parliamentary constituency of Murshidabad district.
While his building a mosque is not the point of contention, but that he chosen the name of Babar and the day for laying the foundation as December 6 are of significance.
It was on December 6 that the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya was razed, which led to the building of a Ram Mandir in Ayodhya.
In response, Hindu groups have formed trusts to begin construction in the same district of what they say will be the replicas of Ayodhya’s Ram Mandir.
Mamata Banerjee’s administrative and political acumen will be on test that day if both the foundation stone laying ceremonies are held on December 6.