On a day when suspended Trinamool Congress MLA Humayun Kabir launched his new Janata Unnayan Party at Beldanga in Murshidabad district on Monday amid much fanfare, the site for the proposed Babri mosque became the centre of attraction, as thousands of people chose religion over his political platform.
“We have come here to visit the place where the Babri masjid will come up. We are not here to attend any meeting,” said 56-year-old Ilias Sheikh, a resident of Rajarampur village in Murshidabad’s Lalgola, as the e-rickshaw driver stopped near the venue of the party launch.
Ilias said he had come with his friend, Yamin Sheikh, 50, only to visit the site where the new Babri mosque would be built, and that neither of them cared about the launch of a new political party.
“We are supporters of another political party. So we had no reason to attend any meeting of another party. More importantly, we did not come here to attend any meeting at all,” he added.
The distance between the Babri mosque site and the venue of Kabir’s meeting was merely 1.5 km, but if one took the route through paddy fields, the stretch would become a few hundred metres shorter.
Many claimed that the footfall at the much-hyped party-launch programme did not even reach the minimum satisfactory level expected by the organisers. When the meeting began at 12 noon, attendance was uncomfortably low for Kabir. However, the ground gradually filled up with people after their trip to the Babri mosque site.
“If the meeting had been organised 50km away from the Babri mosque site, we doubt how many people would have attended it,” said a farmer who had come to support Kabir’s new party.
Although Kabir announced the names of a 125-member committee for his new party and a few candidates for next year's Assembly elections, chief minister Mamata Banerjee remained his primary target of political attack. At the same time, he used only a few sentences to take on BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari. No significant person from any political party was spotted at the launch of the Janata Unnayan Party.
“Mamata Banerjee’s politics is ‘use and throw’. She used me only to ensure the victory of Yusuf Pathan (former cricketer and current Trinamool MP from Baharampur) and Abu Taher Khan (Trinamool's Murshidabad MP). She did nothing for Muslims,” Kabir said.
“I want to tell her that when the CPM was defeated in 2011, it had 235 MLAs across the state and now has zero. Your Trinamool has merely 220 MLAs. So don’t show arrogance over these numbers, as you are going to be defeated in 2026,” he added.
Countering Trinamool spokesperson Kunal Ghosh, who had challenged him to launch the party from Calcutta’s Brigade Parade Ground, Kabir said he would organise a rally there in January.
Among the eight candidates he named for seats in Murshidabad and Malda districts and even Calcutta's Ballygunge, two were Hindu women. Even the name of the party does not resemble that of any so-called Muslim party.
“My party is secular and not a Muslim-only party. You saw that we announced the names of Hindus as party functionaries and candidates,” Kabir told The Telegraph.
Suvendu Adhikari, the leader of the Opposition, however, sarcastically said: "It would have been Jamat Unnayan Party."
Shortly before Kabir launched his party, chief minister Mamata Banerjee said at a Netaji Indoor Stadium event: “I ask you (party leaders and workers) to make a decision and close ranks on the BJP.... they are misusing money power to divide minorities.”
"The BJP is trying to play games of divisive politics among you. But you must stand united against them,” she added.
Political analysts said the lower footfall at Kabir’s political event compared to the crowd he had drawn during the foundation-stone-laying ceremony of the Babri mosque indicated two major points.
“First, minorities are still not confident enough to trust him as their political flag-bearer. Second, although Trinamool did not openly oppose the Babri mosque project, it silently campaigned among minorities that supporting Kabir would indirectly help the BJP come to power,” said political scientist Biswanath Chakraborty.
Trinamool leaders have said Kabir should now understand that it is easier said than done to set up a new political party and pose a challenge after vowing to build a mosque.
“We do not want to prioritise what Humayun Kabir says, as he is insignificant in Bengal politics. During Christmas, lakhs of people visit Park Street to enjoy the festivities. If someone expects all of them to vote for a Catholic party formed in Calcutta, that would be unrealistic. Kabir dreamt something similar,” said Trinamool spokesperson Arup Chakraborty.
The BJP, however, claimed that Kabir’s political party was nothing but a Plan B of Trinamool.
“Trinamool is Humayun and Humayun is Trinamool. Under Mamata Banerjee’s regime, the Opposition has to move the court even to organise a small political event. So how could Humayun Kabir launch a new party without any resistance? This is Trinamool’s Plan-B,” BJP state president Samik Bhattacharya said.
The CPM and the Congress, whom Kabir had earlier said could become part of his axis to defeat Trinamool and the BJP, did not have any words of hope for the suspended Trinamool MLA.
"He spent a long time with the Trinamool and did not utter a word against the party or Mamata Banerjee then. Whatever he has said so far reveals his opportunism and shows that he is suffering from an overestimation syndrome," CPM leader Sujan Chakraborty said.
Congress leader Adhir Chowdhury, who was once Kabir's leader, said: "He is saying a lot of things. There is nothing concrete or sincere in what Humayun is saying."