Construction of ‘Babri Masjid’ begins at Murshidabad

Janata Unnayan Party (JUP) leader and Trinamool Congress (TMC) MLA Humayun Kabir on Wednesday (February 11, 2026) started construction of a mosque on the lines of ‘Babri Masjid’ in Beldanga in Murshidabad district. Mr. Kabir said that the mosque will be completed within two years and would cost around ₹50-55 crore.

Thousands of locals joined the construction workers, as the brick laying for the mosque started on Wednesday (February 11, 2026) afternoon. “ No power on earth can stop the construction of this mosque. By the grace of God, we will finish its construction within two years. It will be built at a cost of ₹50-55 crore,” Mr. Kabir added.

The Bharatpur MLA had started construction and had laid the foundation stone for a mosque, modelled on Ayodhya’s Babri Masjid, on December 6, 2025. Mr. Kabir was suspended by the Trinamool Congress on December 4, 2025, for anti-party activities. Within weeks of his suspension he announced JUP and said that he will take on the Trinamool and BJP in the upcoming Assembly polls.

The announcement of the construction of a mosque, as a replica of Babri Masjid, which was demolished on December 6, 1992, in Ayodhya, triggered sharp reactions in West Bengal politics. While the move has drawn many supporters for Mr Kabir, it has created a sharp communal divide in West Bengal ahead of the Assembly polls scheduled for the next few months.

“My effort is for Islam to please Allah and perform my devotion; it is not about imposing anything,” the JUP leader said. Mr. Kabir said those opposing him are constructing the mosque and are spending hundreds of crores on the construction of temples in the State. The West Bengal government has completed a ₹250 crore Jagannath temple at Digha in April 2025 and announced two mega temples at Kolkata’s New town and Siliguri in north Bengal.

Babri Yatra on hold

Mr. Kabir announced that he has kept a march titled ‘Babri Yatra’ – a 235-km rally from Nadia’s Palashi to Itahar in Uttar Dinajpur district – on hold in the wake of the ongoing board exams. “I have been informed by Malda police that the Babri Yatra would inconvenience the examinees of Madhyamik exams. I have, hence, decided to postpone that event, which was supposed to be held with a convoy of 100 cars,” he said. The march was scheduled on Thursday (February 12, 2026).

The MLA said that instead, he will hold a 22-km march on Thursday (February 12, 2026) from Palashi to Beldanga. “I have been informed by Malda police that the Babri Yatra would inconvenience the examinees of Madhyamik exams. I have, hence, decided to postpone that event which was supposed to be held with a convoy of 100 cars,” he said.

On Tuesday (February 10, 2026), Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had said that the ‘Babri Masjid’ would never be rebuilt till ‘Qayamat’ (Day of Judgment). West Bengal BJP leader Dilip Ghosh said that the construction of ‘Babri Masjid’ was an attempt to consolidate the Muslim vote bank in the State.

Recently, Mr. Kabir met Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] State secretary Md. Salim, triggering speculation about a fresh political alignment in West Bengal politics. In the 2021 Assembly elections, the CPI(M)-led Left Front and the Congress had entered into an electoral alliance with the Indian Secular Front (ISF), a relatively new political outfit at the time. Since the Congress party has decided to go solo in the 2026 Assembly polls, there is a lot of speculation in political circles that CPI(M) may ally with ISF and JUP in the upcoming Assembly polls.