# Humayun Kabir softens on Babri-style mosque name after Suvendu Adhikari’s warning

- Link: https://globalvoicebd.com/politics/humayun-kabir-softens-on-babri-style-mosque-name-after-suvendu-adhikaris-warning/
- Published: 2026-11-06T08:15:24-05:00
- Author: GV Newsroom

A day after West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari warned against using the
name of Mughal emperor Babur for any structure in the state, Aam Janata Unnayan 
Party (AJUP) founder and Nowda MLA Humayun Kabir indicated he would drop the plan
to name his under-construction Babri Masjid-styled mosque in Murshidabad after the
invader.

On Wednesday, Adhikari said there was no objection to building places of worship.“
You can build not one but a hundred masjids on your land. There is no problem with
it. Mandir, Masjid, Church, Gurudwara come under individual rights given by the 
Constitution. But Babar did not belong to India. He was a Lootera,” he stated.

He added that no permission would be granted if Babur’s name was used, that Kabir’s
plan lacked approval and documents (which could be processed quickly once the name
was removed), and that he had instructed the district magistrate accordingly. “You
will have to face its consequences” if the name remained, Adhikari warned.

On Thursday, Kabir said he would follow the Chief Minister’s decision: “Let the 
construction of the masjid be completed first. Then we will rethink its name.” Other
reports quoted him saying the administrative head of the state must be respected
and that if the CM did not want the “Babri” name, there was no choice but to comply.
He noted that Adhikari had earlier suggested alternatives such as Kazi Nazrul Islam,
Siraj-ud-Daulah or APJ Abdul Kalam.

In comments to TV9, however, Kabir opposed the Chief Minister’s approach and accused
him of deliberately diverting public attention.

“The Chief Minister, knowingly and deliberately, instead of focusing on the development
he is supposed to do in six months—road development, drinking water, electricity,
expansion of new roads—is issuing one threat or another to completely divert people’s
minds,” he said. He claimed Adhikari was confusing Babur with Babri.

Kabir argued that even if Babur was a plunderer or had seized power by force, that
had no direct link to the Babri Mosque: “If Babur is a tyrant, if Babur became the
emperor of India by force, what is the relation of that with Babri? The Babri Mosque
was built by Mir Baqi, Babur’s commander. Babri and Babur are not the same. Babri
is a woman. He has said that nothing will happen in Babur’s name. But there is no
name of Babur there. Why are they being equated? That is not understandable.”

Kabir also said that three to four months earlier the Chief Minister had told him
he would send a letter proposing a name change, but the letter had still not arrived.“
Let the letter come first. Only after examining the content of the letter and its
acceptability will there be consideration on this matter,” he stated.

The controversy follows Kabir’s earlier threats to block NH-34 on 6 December (the
anniversary of the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition) and his plan for a mosque modelled
on the demolished structure in Murshidabad’s Beldanga/Rejinagar area. Adhikari’s
directive to the district magistrate came against that backdrop. BJP MLA Sajal Ghosh
dismissed Kabir’s shifting positions as erratic.