On 6 December, the anniversary of the Babri Masjid demolition, suspended Trinamool MLA Humayun Kabir turned a sleepy stretch of National Highway-12 in Murshidabad into a political theatre. Thousands blocked the road for three hours while he laid the foundation stone for a mosque deliberately modelled on the demolished Babri Masjid in violence-scarred Beldanga. The message was unmistakable: thirty-three years after Ayodhya, Muslim resentment remains a live wire in Bengal.

Kabir, a 62-year-old serial party-switcher who has hopped from Trinamool to independent to BJP and back to Trinamool, now threatens to float a new Muslim-focused party without surrendering his MLA privileges. He boasts of contesting 135 seats, claims quiet talks with AIMIM’s Asaduddin Owaisi and the Indian Secular Front, and positions himself as Bengal’s answer to the Hyderabad MP. Though AIMIM has publicly distanced itself, the mere possibility has rattled Trinamool’s district units in Murshidabad, Malda, and North Bengal.

West Bengal’s 27–30 per cent Muslim population (2011 census, widely believed to be higher now) has been Trinamool’s most reliable vote bank since 2011. Yet in Muslim-majority pockets — Murshidabad (66 per cent), Malda (51 per cent), Uttar Dinajpur (50 per cent) — simmering grievances over economic stagnation, alleged patronage politics, and symbolic neglect are surfacing. Analysts estimate Kabir could peel away 10–15 per cent of the Muslim vote in at least 40–50 assembly segments, enough to turn tight Trinamool victories into losses, especially if the BJP consolidates the Hindu vote in three-way fights.

Also Read: TMC Suspended MLA Kabir Aims Kingmaker Position, Plans Rally on December 22

The Bihar parallel is striking. When Owaisi unified fractured Surjapuri, Shershahbadi, and Kulhaiya votes in Seemanchal, he hurt the RJD far more than his own seat tally suggested, and the BJP quietly gained. Political scientists note that when Muslims in high-concentration zones vote on identity rather than secular patronage, polarisation sharpens — and the saffron party often emerges as the unintended beneficiary.

Mamata Banerjee’s grip on Bengal remains formidable after fifteen years of iron-fisted rule, but Humayun Kabir’s mosque-and-party gambit has exposed the first visible fissure in her fortress. One calculated provocation on the banks of the Bhagirathi may yet decide whether Trinamool’s most loyal bloc stays united — or splinters decisively in 2026.

Also Read: Suspended TMC MLA Humayun Kabir Lays Foundation for Babri Masjid Replica in Murshidabad