Humayun To Ally With Owaisi After Launching Babri-Style Mosque Project

Berhampore: A day after starting a Babri Masjid-style mosque construction at Beldanga in Murshidabad of West Bengal, suspended Trinamul Congress Bharatpur MLA Humayun Kabir announced that his proposed outfit would ally with the AIMIM of Asaduddin Owaisi, to contest the Assembly elections next year.

Kabir's announcement ended a long speculation within the TMC about his invisible rapport with Owaisi following his bold decision a year ago to build a mosque and then open a new party to woo the Muslim votebank on the religious line and reduce Mamata Banerjee’s control.

Kabir said, "My new political party will be launched on December 22. It will forge an alliance with AIMIM for the coming Assembly polls. We will jointly field candidates in 135 seats out of the 294 in the state. Mr Owaisi has invited me to Hyderabad for talks. I will meet him very soon. I will also invite CPM-led Left Front, Congress, Indian Secular Front (ISF) to join us for a greater alliance."

This is not the first attempt by AIMIM to enter Bengal. It formed a state leadership in November of 2020 ahead of the Assembly polls in 2021 but TMC hijacked the panel. Owaisi then tried to reach out to the ISF but changed tack after the outfit allied with the Congress and the Left. He later decided to go solo, fielding two AIMIM candidates at two seats in Murshidabad and campaigned for them.

Kabir also informed that he would organise a special gathering in February next year in Murshidabad where lakhs of Muslims would recite the Holy Quran. He claimed that he did not take cue from the BJP initiative of the Bhagavad Gita recitation by five lakh of Hindu devotees at Brigade Parade ground on Sunday.

He argued, “My event will be part of my mosque construction work which got tremendous response from different districts and even outside the state.”