Kabir left ‘friendless’ as parties, barring BJP, shun his ‘politics of polarization’
Times of India | 10 December 2025
Kolkata: Humayun Kabir looks friendless in Bengal politics with every major party — Trinamool, BJP, Congress and CPM — distancing themselves from the 62-year-old Bharatpur MLA and his antics. However, the underlying feeling among all (barring BJP) is what AIMIM articulated on Monday: Kabir may ultimately be doing the saffron party's bidding.
On Monday, a PTI report quoted AIMIM national spokesperson Syed Asim Waqar — with whose party Kabir declared a coalition — alleging that Kabir was widely perceived as being politically aligned with senior BJP neta Suvendu Adhikari and, by extension, the party's central leadership. Kabir announced that he would fight the 2026 Bengal assembly polls in alliance with AIMIM, even spelling out his seat-sharing plans.
TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh argued that Kabir's "politics of dissent" was aimed at clear political objectives. "A person can build a temple, mosque or church. We have nothing to say. But by invoking the pain of the Babri Masjid demolition, he is trying religious polarization. Where was his pain for the Babri demolition when he was with BJP and fought as its candidate in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls?" he said.
Ghosh earlier said BJP has faces in Bengal, and it also has masks, while responding to a question on Kabir.
Bengal BJP president Samik Bhattacharya, however, said Trinamool was trying to shift focus. "Humayun has been acting as Trinamool's B team, and they are trying to set a narrative around it. The govt allowed him to perform shilanyas and project that as its tacit support for Kabir's cause," he said.
For many in Bengal, a grand anti-BJP, anti-Trinamool alliance, which Kabir keeps harping on, appears to be a throwback to the Samyukta Morcha (Mahajote) experiment ahead of the 2021 Bengal assembly polls. Nawsad Siddique, a Furfurasharif cleric's debutant Indian Secular Front (ISF), along with CPM and Congress, threatened to split Trinamool's grip over minority votes. The experiment failed, with the alliance routed (only Nawsad won).
What Kabir can achieve in minority-dominated Murshidabad, however, remains to be seen.
"I will float my new party on Dec 22. On that day, the names of the office-bearers will also be announced," Kabir said on Tuesday. Speaking to TOI, he added: "You will have surprises. There are many who aren't coming to the fore right now. All your questions will be answered."
CPM distanced itself from Kabir's masjid politics for its "stance against religious binary" in Bengal. CPM state secretary Md Salim said Bengal has been a victim of Partition and people were wary of religion or caste-specific political outfits.
Pradesh Congress president Subhankar Sarkar, who also pointed at divisive politics trying to raise its head in Bengal, said Congress will not be an ally to anyone who does not believe in "plurality". "Erecting a temple or mosque isn't a crime. Similarly, chanting Gita or Quran isn't an offence. I will not be surprised if such issues are getting support from the quarters that benefit from polarization," he said.