Muslims have right to build Babri Masjid: JD(U) MP Kaushalendra Kumar

Nalanda: JD(U) MP Kaushalendra Kumar on Monday defended Humayun Kabir, the West Bengal MLA who was suspended from his party, the Trinamool Congress, for laying foundation stone of "Babri Masjid" in Murshidabad district of the neighbouring state.

The JD(U) leader shared his views while talking to journalists in his parliamentary constituency of Nalanda, which, incidentally, is the home turf of party supremo and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

"The Constitution guarantees all citizens the right to practice and propagate their religion. If building such a mosque is in line with Muslim sentiments, nobody should have a problem with it," said the Nalanda MP.

The JD(U) MP, whose party is a BJP ally at the Centre as well as in Bihar, also distanced himself from the saffron party's stand that construction of a mosque in the memory of Babur was tantamount to honouring an "invader", who eventually settled in India and founded the powerful Mughal empire.

"I have not seen Babur and do not have much idea of what he stood for. But we have been following the Constitution since Independence which guarantees right to freedom of religion," said Kaushalendra Kumar.

When it was pointed out to him that BJP has stridently opposed the construction of the proposed mosque in West Bengal, where the saffron party takes on the TMC in the assembly polls due in a few months, the JD(U) MP came up with an intriguing response.

"Things are not the way as you are trying to suggest. In fact, it is (West Bengal CM) Mamata Banerjee who has cracked down on a Muslim leader for voicing his religious sentiments," said the JD(U) leader.

Kabir, who represents Bharatpur assembly segment of the Muslim-majority district of Murshidabad, laid the foundation stone of a mosque modelled on the Babri Masjid of Ayodhya on December 6. On the previous day, the Calcutta High Court refused to intervene in the construction of the mosque proposed by Kabir.

Babri Masjid, a 16th-century monument situated at Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh, was razed by a mob on December 6, 1992, and a Ram temple has been constructed at the site following a Supreme Court order which decided the title suit in favour of Hindus.