War of words erupts between BJP, TMC over MLA's 'Babri Masjid-style' mosque in Murshidabad

Kolkata: Legislator Humayun Kabir's plan to lay the foundation for a 'Babri Masjid-style' mosque in Murshidabad on Saturday sparked a political slugfest in West Bengal, with the BJP accusing the Trinamool Congress, which has suspended the MLA, of polarising the people, and the ruling party in the state dismissing the charge as baseless.

Senior BJP leader Amit Malviya, in a post on X, alleged that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was using the MLA to polarise Muslims for political gains and that reports from Beldanga had triggered "serious concern".

He claimed that Kabir's supporters had been seen carrying bricks to construct what he called a Babri Masjid and that the MLA had asserted that he had police backing.

Calling Beldanga one of the most communally sensitive regions of the state, Malviya warned that any unrest could disrupt National Highway 12 -- the lifeline connecting north Bengal with the south -- with "grave consequences for law and order and even national security".

"This so-called mosque project is not a religious effort but a political one, designed to inflame emotions and consolidate vote banks. Far from serving the community, it poses a serious threat to West Bengal's stability, risking heightened tensions and even fragmentation of the state's social fabric," the BJP leader alleged.

"But Mamata Banerjee will not stop at anything, even if it means pushing West Bengal towards turmoil," he added.

Kabir, who was suspended from the TMC earlier this week over the controversial project, is slated to address a rally at Muradighi Maidan on Saturday morning, after which he plans to lay the foundation stone for the proposed Babri Masjid-style mosque.

Senior BJP leader Dilip Ghosh termed the episode "vote-bank politics", alleging that the ruling party in the state was seeking to stoke communal passions ahead of assembly elections, likely early next year.

"TMC is using Humayun Kabir as a freelancer to create tension before elections," Ghosh alleged.

The TMC hit back, accusing Kabir of acting in tacit understanding with the BJP and RSS to disturb peace in the district.

A senior TMC leader alleged that the suspended MLA was "on the payroll of the BJP" and was functioning as its agent to provoke unrest.

"The people of Murshidabad are peace-loving and do not support his provocations," he said, rejecting the BJP's charges as "baseless" and asserting that the TMC "does not need lessons on harmony".

Kabir, for his part, claimed that conspiracies were being hatched to disrupt the programme but asserted that "lakhs of people" would foil any such attempts. Security across the district has been tightened in view of the scheduled event.

West Bengal is bracing for a politically fraught Saturday as Kabir pushes ahead with the foundation-laying ceremony despite mounting political tensions, prompting a high-security alert across Murshidabad.

The Beldanga site, where Kabir has claimed that "three lakh people" would assemble, has been sealed into a tight security grid with deployment of the Rapid Action Force, district police and central forces on both sides of National Highway 12.

The Calcutta High Court on Friday refused to intervene in the construction of a mosque -- modelled on Ayodhya's Babri Masjid -- at Beldanga in Murshidabad, directing that the responsibility of maintenance of law and order would rest with the West Bengal government.