A large-scale foundation-stone ceremony for a mosque styled on the demolished Babri Masjid was held in Murshidabad district on Saturday, causing a 12-kilometre stretch of National Highway 12 between Rejinagar and Beldanga to be shut down for three hours. Thousands of people carried bricks and stone chips to the site, where a suspended Trinamool Congress legislator took part in a ritual ceremony marked by chants of religious slogans, all amid heavy security presence.
The event was organised under the leadership of Humayun Kabir, the TMC MLA who had recently been suspended by his party for announcing his intention to lay the foundation stone for what he called a “Babri-Masjid-style” mosque on December 6 — the anniversary of the original Babri Masjid demolition in 1992. Despite the internal party action, Kabir remained defiant and carried out the ceremony at a site in Rejinagar’s Beldanga block, insisting that building a place of worship is a constitutional right.
Security agencies had been placed on high alert in the lead-up to the ceremony, mobilising police, central forces and rapid-response units across the district. The Calcutta High Court declined to block the ceremony when petitioned amidst concerns over public order, placing responsibility on the state government to maintain peace. Officials sealed off the Beldanga site in a security grid, while law-enforcement units stood guard on either side of the transport corridor.
Eyewitness accounts described tens of thousands converging on the site, many arriving carrying construction materials from far-flung villages, including bricks transported in trucks and tractors. Supporters of the project framed their participation as a symbolic attempt to “undo” the perceived injustice of the 1992 demolition. Catering for the gathering reportedly involved multiple agencies preparing food for thousands, while donation boxes and a QR-code-linked bank account were used to collect funds, according to local organisers.
Political reactions were swift and intense. The Bharatiya Janata Party accused TMC of utilising the event to polarise voters ahead of forthcoming elections, pointing to the timing of the ceremony and the emotive symbolism attached to it. Senior BJP figures described the exercise as blatant vote-bank politics, claiming that the TMC was attempting to stir communal tensions under the guise of religious restoration. The TMC responded by dismissing the allegations, countering that the event was driven by personal initiative of a now-suspended MLA acting independently.
Security agencies have warned that the presence of clerics reportedly from Saudi Arabia, and mobilisation of large crowds along a key national highway, could provide openings for radicalisation or disinformation — especially given Murshidabad’s recent history of communal violence triggered by protests against the Waqf Act, 2025. Intelligence officials said they were monitoring online platforms and cross-border communication channels for signs of agitation.
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