Abhishek Banerjee Criticizes Humayun Kabir, BJP and ECI over Mosque, SIR Issues

Kolkata, Dec 2025 : Trinamool Congress (TMC) national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee on Saturday took a strong dig at Jan Unnayan Party chief Humayun Kabir, who had earlier joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), saying Kabir was the one who “demolished the mosque.” Banerjee accused Kabir of politicizing the “temple-mosque” issue, claiming there was no difference between him and the BJP. The TMC recently suspended Kabir after he announced plans to construct a mosque in the name of Babur in Murshidabad earlier this month.

Addressing a press conference, Banerjee said, “Where is it (the Babri Masjid) being built? I don’t see any construction work starting. If they want to politicize the temple-mosque issue, what is the difference between them and the BJP? The BJP politicized the temple construction, and now they are politicizing the mosque construction.” He added, “Humayun Kabir is a former BJP candidate. The Babri Masjid incident happened in 1992, but he didn’t understand it for 27 years and joined the BJP, which demolished the mosque.”

Banerjee emphasized that while everyone has the right to build religious sites, they should not use religion for political purposes. “Everyone has the right to build religious sites, but they should not bring politics into it. If you are in politics, build hospitals and schools instead,” he said.

When asked about the death of a Tripura student in Uttarakhand, Banerjee criticized both state governments. “We should all condemn this, but neither the Chief Minister of Tripura nor the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand has made any statement. Both states have two-engine governments. This clearly shows the nature of BJP politics,” he said.

Banerjee also targeted the Election Commission of India (ECI), calling it the “WhatsApp Commission” and demanding an apology to the people of West Bengal. He alleged that the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter rolls in the state was used to “harass” citizens. Highlighting the human cost of the SIR exercise, he said, “During the SIR, 45 people lost their lives and six were hospitalized. 29 booth level officers (BLOs) attempted suicide. We asked the Election Commission five basic questions, but we did not receive a single answer. The Election Commission told the media that they had provided the answers.”

The draft voter list under SIR in West Bengal was published last week. Banerjee’s remarks come ahead of the assembly elections, likely to be held in March-April 2026. In the 2021 assembly polls, the TMC-led alliance won 215 of 294 seats, while the Congress and CPI(M) failed to win any seats. The BJP emerged as the main opposition party with 77 seats.

Team Maverick