{"id":308277,"date":"2025-12-10T20:05:01","date_gmt":"2025-12-10T14:35:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/?p=308277"},"modified":"2026-05-07T10:50:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T05:20:17","slug":"babri-masjid-vs-gita-recital-months-ahead-of-polls-bengal-politics-takes-headlong-communal-plunge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/babri-masjid-vs-gita-recital-months-ahead-of-polls-bengal-politics-takes-headlong-communal-plunge\/","title":{"rendered":"Babri Masjid vs. Gita recital: Months ahead of polls, Bengal politics takes headlong communal plunge"},"content":{"rendered":"

With barely a few months to go for assembly elections, West Bengal\u2019s political discourse has taken a headlong communal plunge. On Saturday, December 6, the 32nd anniversary of the Babri Mosque demolition, an ousted Trinamool Congress MLA sparked nationwide controversy by laying the foundation stone for a \u201cnew\u201d Babri Masjid in Murshidabad. The very next day, ‘Sanatani’ Hindus gathered in huge numbers in the heart of Kolkata for a reading of the Bhagavad Gita and calling for Hindu unity.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Humayun Kabir, the MLA from Bharatpur in West Bengal\u2019s Murshidabad district, organised a foundation-laying <\/span>ceremony for a mosque that is proposed to be modelled after the Babri Mosque in Ayodhya demolished by Hindutva karsevaks on December 6, 1992. A staggering number of people turned up at the site — a 25-acre plot in Beldanga, a municipality town in Murshidabad — for the brick-laying ceremony, which Kabir described as a \u2018prestige battle\u2019 for Indian Muslims. Many traveled from as far as North Dinajpur and Canning in South 24-Parganas, located some 240 kilometres away. Many were seen walking toward the site balancing bricks on their heads, which they wanted to use in the structure.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Humayun Kabir (third from left) at the foundation laying ceremony of the Babri Masjid at Beldanga in Murshidabad district on Saturday. Picture by Abdul Halim (The Telegraph)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A day later, on December 7, <\/span>devotees in large numbers (BJP claimed<\/a> 6.5 lakh) turned up at Kolkata\u2019s iconic Brigade Parade Ground to participate in a collective recital of the Bhagavad Gita, titled \u2018Panch Lakkho Konthe Gita Path\u2019, organised by the <\/span>Sanatan Sanskriti Sansad <\/span><\/a>\u2014 a collective of monks and Hindutva leaders from across states and institutions. The event, attended by the likes of Dhirendra Krishna Shastri (\u2018Baba Bageshwar\u2019), Sadhvi Ritambhara and Baba Ramdev, also featured BJP leaders like Samik Bhattacharya, Dilip Ghosh, Suvendu Adhikari, Dilip Ghosh, Sukanta Majumdar, Locket Chatterjee, Agnimitra Paul and others. Participants <\/span>arrived<\/span><\/a> in huge numbers, in crowded buses, ferries, and trucks, not only from West Bengal, but also from neighbouring states such as Bihar, Orissa, Assam, and even Bangladesh and Nepal.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Bengal governor C V Ananda Bose, too, addressed the crowd.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Gathering of Sanatani Hindus at the Gita Path event on December 7, 2025. Screengrab from YouTube video. Credit: Nil VS Nil<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Both Kabir in Murshidabad and Shastri in Kolkata posed a thinly veiled, unsettling question: Would their followers back down from a confrontation? The crowds responded with an emphatic and unanimous \u201cNo\u201d.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

At the Kolkata parade ground, Shastri, while calling for a Hindu Rashtra, <\/span>asked<\/span><\/a>: \u201cYou won\u2019t be scared? (No) You won\u2019t step back? (No) You won\u2019t run away? (No).\u201d In Beldanga, a speaker standing next to Kabir echoed a similar line of provocation: \u201cYou will not run away in fear of the police? (No) Are you ready to be beaten by the police to get what we want? (Yes).\u201d Another compatriot of Kabir <\/span>exclaimed<\/span><\/a>\u00a0from the podium: \u201cLadke lenge Babri Masjid.\u201d (We will fight to reclaim Babri Masjid)<\/span><\/p>\n

The consequence of such remarks translated into a spirit of aggressive religious posturing among the attendees. In Murshidabad, one attendee <\/span>threatened<\/span><\/a> to cut off the head of whoever stood in the way of the Babri Mosque and play football with it. At the Brigade Parade Ground, saffron-clad vigilantes <\/span>assaulted<\/span><\/a> one Sheikh Reyajul for selling chicken patties at the event. They kicked down his box of savouries, despite Reyajul pleading that it was his source of livelihood, and made him do sit-ups while holding his ears. Reports later emerged of a second incident where another Muslim vendor was allegedly assaulted for selling chicken puffs near the venue.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

While BJP leaders openly endorsed the Gita recital event and made their presence felt on the dais, Trinamool Congress finds itself in a sticky situation. The party was forced to suspend Kabir days before the foundation laying event. Kolkata mayor <\/span>Firhad Hakim<\/span><\/a> referred to him as a \u2018traitor\u2019, pointedly indicating that Kabir followed in the stead of \u2018Mir Jafar\u2019, implying his history of defections, which saw him change from the Congress, to the TMC, to the BJP, and then back to TMC, before his recent suspension. Furthermore, chief minister <\/span>Mamata Banerjee<\/span><\/a> skipped the Gita Path events despite being invited, citing ideological differences. \u201cHow can I go to an event organised by the BJP? I am from a different party, I have a different ideology\u2026 They (the BJP) are anti-Bengali\u201d, said Banerjee in a statement.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Communal Sparks Fly<\/h4>\n

Just before the brick-laying ceremony in Beldanga on Saturday, Kabir <\/span>delivered<\/span><\/a> an inflammatory speech, going as far as declaring that Muslims, who account for 37% of the total population in Bengal, would willingly sacrifice themselves before letting the bricks of the Babri Masjid come undone. The attendees said that he had perfectly articulated the sentiments of the Muslims in the state. Compatriots of Kabir roared from the stage, \u201c<\/span>Humayun se jo takrayega, woh choor choor ho jayega!\u201d <\/span><\/i>(Translation: Whoever clashes with Humayun will be smashed to pieces!).<\/span><\/p>\n

[youtube https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=qBIAXu_NaaQ?si=UiSbLrkxFQomCvZa]<\/p>\n

Kabir had first expressed his desire to set up the mosque <\/span>last year<\/span><\/a> in December 2024. He had promised to make a cast of the Babri Masjid by December 6 of this year. \u201c…With donations from everyone, we will build a new Babri Masjid in Beldanga in Murshidabad in West Bengal,” he had said. In carrying out his pledge, he was suspended by the Trinamool Congress, which cited communal politics as the grounds for its action. \u201cHe stays in Rejinagar and is an MLA from Bharatpur. Why then does he want to build a mosque at Beldanga? This is because Beldanga is communally sensitive, and if there are riots, it will result in polarisation and help the BJP,\u201d Mayor Hakim was quoted as saying.<\/span><\/p>\n