Humayun Kabir (ANI image)
NEW DELHI: The Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) on Monday said that the proposed construction of a mosque modelled on Ayodhya’s Babri Masjid in West Bengal’s Murshidabad district amounts to an offence under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).The organisation has urged the state government to order the registration of an FIR against suspended Trinamool Congress MLA Humayun Kabir, news agency PTI reported. In a letter addressed to chief minister Mamata Banerjee, VHP president Alok Kumar alleged that the proposed naming of the mosque after Mughal ruler Babur was a “deliberate symbolic act” that was foreseeably offensive to Hindus and had the potential to promote religious enmity.Kumar claimed that Babur is historically associated with the destruction of Hindu religious sites and that naming a mosque after him, when viewed alongside the statements made by Kabir, indicated that the move was neither accidental nor incidental. He described it as a “malicious act likely to outrage Hindu religious feelings”.The VHP chief urged the West Bengal government to examine the applicability of Sections 196 and 299 of the BNS and other relevant provisions and to take legal action by filing an FIR against Kabir and his associates. On December 6, the suspended TMC leader laid the foundation stone for a mosque modelled on the Babri Masjid at Rejinagar in Murshidabad district amid heavy security. The event, held on the anniversary of the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition, added to political tensions in the state ahead of the assembly elections due early next year.The ceremony was conducted under tight security, with state police, Rapid Action Force and central forces deployed across Rejinagar and neighbouring Beldanga, which were turned into controlled zones.Taking strong exception to the move, Kumar said in his letter that the speeches made by Kabir showed that the act was deliberate. “The choice of the name and the date of commencement of construction, and the statements and speeches by Humayun Kabir, MLA, show that this is deliberate,” Kumar said. The VHP chief highlighted that Babur, the founder of the Mughal dynasty in India, remains a deeply contentious historical figure, particularly in relation to Hindu religious and cultural sentiments.
