West Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress is caught in a complex and precarious political situation, just a few months before the Assembly elections, with its MLA Humayun Kabir's controversial statement on laying the foundation stone for a "Babri Masjid" in Beldanga of Murshidabad district.
Incidentally, Murshidabad was in the headlines this April for the violence it witnessed with protests against the Waqf Amendment Bill, leading to the destruction of properties and massive displacement.
Kabir's statement has not only sparked a controversy, but it has put his party in discomfiture, disrupting the Trinamool's calculated pre-poll political equations. It forces the party to choose between two conflicting electoral imperatives – consolidating Muslim vote in the face of tough competition, and preventing a Hindu counter-mobilisation that would benefit the state's principal Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
By denouncing Kabir's statement, Trinamool stands to lose a significant number of Muslim votes, which the party desperately needs against the rising political threat from the BJP. And that too, about six months after Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee inaugurated her dream Jagannath temple in Digha, near Kolkata.
The construction not only attracted criticism for resorting to a "soft Hindutva" attempt after the Trinamool's alleged overtures at minority appeasement, but also stirred a controversy for being occasionally referred to as a "dham". Nonetheless, since its inauguration, more than 90 lakh devotees have visited the Digha Jagannath Temple.
On the other hand, if the Trinamool allows the issue to fester, it validates the BJP's narrative of Muslim appeasement, accelerating the process of communal polarisation across the state and potentially jeopardising its chances in the Assembly polls.
Incidentally, one such polarisation was witnessed in the Maldaha Uttar Lok Sabha constituency, where, together with a split in minority votes between the Congress-Left and the Trinamool, helped the BJP candidate comfortably sail through in both 2019 and 2024 elections in the Muslim-dominated seat.
In the 2024 polls, the BJP consolidated its lead in three of the Assembly segments to such an extent that the Trinamool could not come close to its nominee despite leading in the other four seats that comprise the Parliamentary constituency.
In some adjoining seats with considerable influence of minority votes, however, the BJP could not make any dent. Among those were Murshidabad and Baharampur (winners from Trinamool), Maldaha Dakshin (Congress), among others. Now, taking a stand can change the equations on the ground.
Meanwhile, Kabir has been through several controversies during his tenure as an IPS officer, where he reportedly faced action for apprehending a criminal allegedly close to the then state government. He again attracted controversy for his purported connections with a senior Congress leader in West Bengal.
During his political stint, he has often fallen out of favour with Trinamool's top leadership with his controversial and acerbic comments. Various party leaders have been his target, including a statement where he alleged that a coterie within the party around Mamata Banerjee were not her well-wishers, but influenced her decisions.
He has even gone ahead to suggest that Mamata's nephew, party General Secretary and three times MP from Diamond Harbour, Abhishek Banerjee, be included in her cabinet, preferably as a Deputy Chief Minister.
Now, once again, Kabir's utterance has stirred a controversy, this one perhaps more severe, plunging the ruling party into uncertainty months before state Assembly elections next year.
Kabir's declaration, timed to coincide with the demolition anniversary of Ayodhya's Babri structure, is a volatile mix of religious and electoral politics that risks alienating a crucial section of the electorate while inviting sharp attacks from critics.
The loudest admission of the Trinamool's discomfort over the issue lies perhaps in its silence, where emissaries may silently try stalling the mosque plan while the leadership keeps away from Kabir and his statement.
(With inputs from IANS)
