Who is Humayun Kabir? Bengal MLA planning to build Babri-style mosque in…, floats new party after…

Trinamool Congress leader Humayun Kabir, who was recently suspended by the Mamata Banerjee-led party for laying foundation stone for a Babri-style mosque in Murshidabad district, floated a new political outfit on Monday, and announced plans to field candidates in the 2026 West Bengal Assembly Election.

Who is Humayun Kabir?

Humayun Kabir, who represents the Bharatpur constituency in the West Bengal Legislative Assembly, is not new to controversies. Previously, in 2015,  the TMC had “expelled” Kabir for six years for criticising Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, and alleging that she was trying to make her nephew, Abhishek Banerjee, the “king”.

Following his expulsion, Humayun Kabir had contested the 2016 assembly elections as an Independent from the Rejinagar seat, but lost to Congress candidate Rabiul Alam Chowdhury.

Subsequently, he joined the Congress, which had a major presence in the district at the time, but later jumped ship to the BJP ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections, and contested from Murshidabad Lok Sabha seat. Kabir managed to finish third, behind TMC and Congress candidates, and in 2021, returned to the TMC, to contest the assembly polls from Bharatpur, which he won.

Earlier this month, Humayun Kabir announced plans to build a Babri-style mosque in Murshidabad, triggering a political storm, following which he was suspended by the TMC.

Humayun Kabir floats new party

Meanwhile, on Monday, Humayun Kabir floated his own outfit, Janata Unnayan Party, and named eight candidates his new party will field in the 2026 West Bengal assembly elections..

Addressing a public meeting in Beladanga, Kabir said he would contest the assembly polls from two seats, Rejinagar and Beldanga in Murshidabad. We can only tell you later how many seats we will be finally contesting,” he said, adding that his “mission” is to oust Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee from power in the assembly polls.

“Mamata Banerjee is no longer the same person I knew. She is beyond the reach of the common man,” he alleged.

How did BJP react

Reacting to the development, the BJP alleged that Humayun Kabir was still working for the Trinamool Congress, and was working to help the incumbent regime to retain power in the state.

“Kabir will not be a factor in the next assembly polls. He will face the drubbing of the electorate along with his old friend TMC, with which he is still in touch in a clandestine manner. Both Kabir and his new party will be rejected by the people of Bengal,” state BJP president Samik Bhattacharya claimed.

Bhattacharya also claimed that Kabir was attempting to split “BJP votes” in the assembly polls. “In the wake of the situation in Bangladesh, people of Bengal will thwart Kabir’s attempts and elect a strong nationalist force like the BJP, only which can defeat fundamentalists,”

The TMC is yet to comment on Kabir’s new party.

On December 6, the day the Babri Masjid was razed in Ayodhya in 1992, a defiant Kabir laid the foundation stone for the mosque at Rejinagar.

(With inputs from agencies)