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New Delhi: With assembly elections scheduled for next year, West Bengal has already entered full campaign mode, and suspended Trinamool Congress MLA Humayun Kabir has suddenly emerged as a prominent disruptor.
Defying the Trinamool Congress and inviting criticism from across the political spectrum, Kabir laid the foundation stone of a Babri Masjid in Beldanga, Murshidabad, on December 6, the anniversary of the Ayodhya demolition. From the same stage, he declared that he would work to make Mamata Banerjee a former Chief Minister in the next election.
Kabir, suspended twice by the party in the last decade, is positioning himself as a key challenger within Bengal’s minority politics. Murshidabad, the district where he performed the symbolic ceremony, has the highest Muslim population in the state at around 66 percent. Malda has 52 percent Muslims, while North 24 Parganas and Nadia each have around 26 percent. Kabir hopes to tap into this consolidated minority presence.
Muslim voters have been central to Mamata Banerjee’s rise since 2011. After shifting from the Left Front, they have supported the Trinamool Congress consistently for 14 years. In the 2021 assembly elections, Muslims formed more than 40 per cent of the electorate in 74 seats, and the TMC won 69 of them. In another 57 seats with a 35 to 40 percent minority share, the party won 46 seats.
Kabir now claims he can dent this base. He plans to launch his new party on December 22 and field candidates in 135 constituencies, with around 90 seats as his primary targets. To signal his intent, he has also announced a mass Quran recitation event in Murshidabad that will involve one lakh participants.
The Trinamool Congress has responded by distancing itself. Kolkata Mayor and senior TMC leader Firhad Hakim said the party does not support such acts and believes in secular politics. Mamata Banerjee has suggested that the BJP is backing Kabir, while the Governor has hinted that legal action may be considered.
Opposition parties have termed Kabir’s suspension an act of political drama. BJP leader Sukanta Majumdar called it a gallery show, and Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury also criticised the move.
Kabir is reportedly in talks with the ISF, AIMIM and other Muslim-oriented parties to form a broader front. Whether this new coalition can meaningfully cut into Mamata Banerjee’s Muslim vote bank will become clearer as the 2026 election approaches.
