Babri Row In Bengal: Sanity Needs To Be Restored
Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator.
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By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2025-12-07 11:04:43
About the Author
Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator.
View all posts by this Author
As things heat up before the scheduled assembly elections in 2026 in Bengal, the 'Babri' masjid episode has raised the temperature enormously. Trinamool MLA (now suspended) from Bharatpur, Humayan Kabir, laid the foundation for a mosque, to be designed like the desecrated Babri Masjid in Ayodhya and named after Babar, in a small block in the Murshidabad district of the state. Kabir warned TMC that its Muslim vote bank will be 'finished' and he will join hands with Asasuddin Owaisi's AIMIM to contest elections in Bengal. The foundation for the mosque was laid under the banner of West Bengal Islamic Foundation of India, of which the suspended MLA is the general secretary.
While the BJP was quick to counter it with the plans to build a Ram Temple in the same district and a party functionary even performed a puja on the same day, the TMC called people trying to create divisions in the state 'Mir Jafars and Gaddars' who are playing into the hands of the BJP. It is clear that having suspended Kabir, the party does not want to antagonize a section of the Muslims and hence did not stop the foundation ceremony. Kabir seems to have created a new headache for the party leadership.
The Muslim trust which is building the mosque in Ayodhya as per the Supreme Court directive denounced the move and called it politically motivated. Athar Hussain, secreatry of Indo-Islamic Cultural Foundation said that in religious terms, a mosque can only be built on taqwa (God consciousness and purity of belief). Headded that after the closure of the case in Ayodhya, "anything done now in name of Babri Masjid is purely politics".
Both Kabir and the BJP need to tone down their rhetoric. Kabir must build the mosque if he wants, but should not design it after the erstwhile Babri masjid nor name it after Babar if he is a well-wisher of the Muslim community. For, doing that will lead to mistrust among communities and even flare-ups. The BJP must not rush into troubled waters and resist the temptation of one-upmanship. The TMC and the state government have a major role to play. They must educate the people about the folly of reopening old wounds and the administration in the district should not pass the design for construction if it is modeled after the Babri masjid. Sanity needs to be restored at all costs.
