Kolkata: Humayun Kabir, who was expelled from Trinamool Congress last December after he announced he would build a masjid in Murshidabad’s Beldanga, modelled after the Babri Masjid that was demolished in Ayodhya, has sprung a surprise in West Bengal elections.
Kabir, who launched his own party, the Aam Janata Unnayan Party (AJUP), has not only won with huge margins in two seats in Murshidabad district—Rejinagar and Nowda—but has clearly split the Muslim votes in these two constituencies, which the Trinamool Congress won in the 2021 Assembly election.
Kabir won with 1,23,536 votes in Rejinagar against his nearest rival Bapan Ghosh from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) who got 64,660 votes. Trinamool Congress’ Ataur Rahaman came a distant third with 41,718 votes.
In Nowda, the second constituency from where Kabir contested, he won with 86,463 votes. BJP’s Rana Mandal came second with 58,520 votes while Trinamool Congress’ Sahina Momtaz Khan came a close third with 51,867 votes.
Kabir’s victory is a surprise considering the controversy around him just ahead of the first phase of polling in Murshidabad. A purported video of his, claiming BJP had entered into a Rs 1,000 crore deal with him to defeat Mamata Banerjee and that he was in touch with senior BJP leaders in West Bengal had kicked up a political storm.
The alleged video led to Asaduddin Owaisi’s All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), which had entered into an alliance with Kabir’s AJUP, walking out of it. Political analysts had said the controversy would shadow his party’s prospects in the elections. The video had also put a question mark over the fate of the masjid his trust was building.
But he has proved them wrong with massive leads in the two Trinamool strongholds.
The AJUP and Owiasi’s AIMIM had decided to contest in 192 out of the 294 seats before the alliance broke down.
The AJUP had projected itself as an alternative political platform for Muslims in Bengal, who had mostly gravitated towards the TMC and to some extent the Congress after the collapse of the Left-led government in 2011 after a 34-year reign.
The Babri masjid style mosque
Kabir’s announcement to build a Babri masjid has generated interest in the state, which has a 27 per cent Muslim population.
He had told ThePrint in April that preparatory work for building the masjid had already started. The West Bengal Islamic Foundation of India, the trust that he formed to execute the project, has already acquired approximately 8 acres of private land in Beldanga for Rs 13 crore.
The cost of building the entire masjid will be approximately Rs 86 crore, Kabir had said.
At the site, there were boards with ‘Babri Masjid’ written on them. The ground where the masjid will come up has been dug up, the boundary wall is in the process of being erected. A ‘Babri masjid committee’ has been set up to oversee the day-to-day work. The committee even has an office on the masjid site.
“We plan to complete the masjid by 2030. We have currently put all construction activity on hold because of the model code of conduct. Work will restart after May 4. Whatever work has happened till now has been done with money donated by the public,” Kabir had told ThePrint.
The masjid site has become a big draw for people from the community, who are visiting in hordes everyday. A tent has been put up at the site and everyday around 50-100 people, not only from adjoining districts but from states like Assam, throng the site to see the work in progress.
(Edited by Viny Mishra)