Suspended Trinamool Congress MLA Humayun Kabir on Monday claimed that his recently launched political outfit, Janata Unnayan Party (JUP), would get the minority votes in the upcoming Assembly elections in West Bengal.
West Bengal will go to the polls early next year.
“In 2026, the minority vote will come to us. Mamata Banerjee’s TMC will not get it. The minority voters want their own representatives. If required, I will field 200 candidates and 90 of them will be Muslims,” said the Bharatpur MLA.
Accusing TMC of doing “communal politics” by “appeasing Hindus”, Kabir said, “In the 2026 Assembly elections, it will be Hindus versus Muslims. (BJP leader) Suvendu Adhikari is doing Hindu politics, and (TMC supremo) Mamata Banerjee is also doing Hindu appeasement by building Jagannath Temple, organising Durga Puja Carnival, doling out Durga Puja funds to clubs.”
“I will be the leader for Muslims. In 2026, the division between Hindu and Muslim votes will come out clearly in the open. Our main target is the Muslim votes,” Kabir said.
Questioning the chief minister laying the foundation stone of ‘Durga Angan’, a cultural complex dedicated to Goddess Durga in New Town in Kolkata, the suspended TMC MLA said, “Government money cannot be spent like this. Why is the BJP quiet now? Why are they not going to court? It must then be understood that Mamata Banerjee and the BJP have some understanding. The state administration is completely spineless and will act only on the chief minister’s orders.”
Responding to TMC general secretary Abhishek Banerjee’s comment that those building religious places should stay out of politics, Kabir said, “If this suggestion is for me, then it should also apply to his aunt (Mamata Banerjee) also.”
On Sunday, the TMC MP had said, “Everyone has the right to build a religious place, but they shouldn’t bring politics into it… If you are in politics, then build hospitals, schools.”
“I will start the construction of the Babri mosque once all the required paperwork is completed,” Kabir said.
He also alleged that the police started to “target” him after he laid the foundation stone for a Babri-style mosque in Murshidabad.
“Since the day I laid the foundation stone for the Babri-style masjid, the police have been after me,” Kabir said, alleging harassment of his family by police.
On Sunday, police detained Kabir’s son Ghulam Nabi Azad, popularly known as Robin — for allegedly assaulting Kabir’s personal security officer (PSO). Azad was later released on bail.
“They tried to slap non-bailable sections but could not… Anyone can make allegations against me and my son, but without notice, how can they come to my residence with such force? They could not give any answer,” Kabir said.
Threatening to “take the police to task”, Kanbir said: “If anyone thinks that by getting orders from Kolkata, they will file false cases against me, or my party workers in 27 police stations of Murshidabad, then they are wrong. In Lalgola, police have been roaming around my daughter’s in-laws’ place with a measuring tape for the last four days. They have five properties. Let them touch my son-in-law, my daughter, or their properties. What I have said, I will do. I will take the police to task.”