A day after laying the foundation stone for a Babri Masjid-like mosque at Beldanga in West Bengal’s Murshidabad, suspended Trinamool Congress MLA Humayun Kabir Sunday said he is in talks with All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president and MP Asaduddin Owaisi for a coalition in the state in next year’s Assembly polls.
Speaking to the media, Kabir said, “I spoke to Owaisi last night, and we had a discussion and decided that we will stand by the poor Muslims in this state. The public is saying that Bengal Owaisi is me, and he is Hyderabad Owaisi; both brothers will unite and fight against the TMC and the BJP. I have been invited to Hyderabad and I will go when I get time.”
“In February, I will have a recitation of the Koran with one lakh people in Murshidabad. BJP always plays the Hindutva card. The BJP is doing a Gita recitation to unite the Hindu community. Masjid will be built at a cost of Rs 300 crore. Apart from the masjid, there will be a helipad, a university and a hospital. We will want the work to start as soon as possible. There is some paperwork left that has to be completed within the next two months, and the construction will begin.”
Previously, Kabir announced that he would quit the TMC and announce his own party on December 22. “I will not resign as MLA because the people of Bharatpur are asking me not to. We plan to contest in 135 seats, with Muslim candidates in 90 of those. This time, we anticipate a hung election, and I aim to be the kingmaker. Our sole objective is to ensure that neither the BJP nor the TMC comes to power.”
On Thursday, TMC announced that the party’s disciplinary committee had suspended Kabir.
Kabir’s repeated criticism of TMC
Over the past year, Kabir has repeatedly criticised the TMC, prompting warnings from Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Abhishek Banerjee that such behaviour would not be tolerated. Kabir had also taken on Berhampore Trinamool MP Yusuf Pathan.
The TMC has previously censured Kabir on several occasions and issued show-cause notices for public statements that embarrassed the party.
Kabir was a Congress MLA representing Rejinagar from 2011 to 2012, then resigned. In 2015, he was expelled from the Trinamool Congress for six years for alleged anti-party activities. He contested the 2016 Assembly elections as an independent candidate to reclaim the Rejinagar seat from his predecessor, Rabiul Chowdhury, but he lost.
In 2018, Kabir joined the BJP and ran for the Murshidabad seat in the 2019 general election, but the TMC once again defeated him. After the expulsion period ended, he rejoined the TMC and won the Bharatpur seat.