Suspended TMC MLA lays stone for Babri-like mosque

Suspended Trinamool Congress (TMC) legislator Humayun Kabir laid the foundation stone for a mosque, modelled on Babri Masjid, at Rejinagar in West Bengal's Murshidabad district on Saturday, a day after the Calcutta high court declined to interfere in the proposed event, triggering a political row between the ruling TMC and opposition BJP in the eastern state.

- HT Correspondent

Heavy security was deployed in the area ahead of the foundation laying event, which coincided with the anniversary of the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition in Ayodhya. Kabir, an MLA from Bharatpur constituency, was suspended from the TMC on December 4 after he “vowed” to build a replica of the Babri Masjid in the Muslim-dominating Murshidabad district.

“I was being stopped from building a Babri Masjid. The entire Muslim community in Bengal shall reply to the government over this in the coming days,” Kabir told the gathering after laying the foundation stone. “There is nothing unconstitutional about this. Building a place of worship is a constitutional right. Babri Masjid will be built.”