Bengal CM Mamata urges minority unity as suspended TMC MLA launches new party ahead of assembly polls
KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday urged minorities, who traditionally support the ruling Trinamool Congress, to remain united at a time when the partys suspended MLA Humayun Kabir floated a new political platform , the Janatar Unnyan Party (JUP). The move has raised concerns over a possible split in the minority vote bank barely four months ahead of the Assembly elections scheduled next year. Addressing a meeting of Trinamool Congress Booth Level Agents (BLAs) in the city, Banerjee appealed to minorities not to panic. I am telling you to take a decision and get united against the BJP, she said. BJP is trying to play division politics among you. But you have to be united against them, the Chief Minister added. Humayun Kabir, the Trinamool Congress legislator from Bharatpur, was recently suspended by the party leadership on charges of anti-party activities. These included allegedly making communal statements and laying the foundation stone of a mosque in Beldanga, Murshidabad district, modelled after the Babri Mosque in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh. On Monday, Kabir formally announced the launch of his new party, the Janatar Unnyan Party. Addressing a public meeting in Beldanga, Kabir named eight candidates whom his party will field in the 2026 Assembly elections in the state. He said he would himself contest from two seats, Rejinagar and Beldanga in Murshidabad district, and would soon release the names of other candidates. Kabir claimed that the JUP would field candidates in 90 Assembly constituencies across the state and would emerge as a decisive factor in the elections. People have already dethroned the Congress. Now they will also bring the Trinamool Congress and BJP down from power in the state and at the Centre, the JUP chairman said. My party will fight for the cause of common people in the state. He also announced that table would be the partys symbol and said an application would be submitted to the Election Commission of India (ECI) seeking recognition. He added that rose could be used as an alternative symbol if the table is not approved. In the 2016 Assembly elections, Kabir had contested as an independent candidate using the same symbol. West Bengal has earlier witnessed the formation of a new political party, the Indian Secular Front (ISF), which had forged an electoral alliance with the CPI(M)-led Left Front in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. ISF chairman Naushad Siddiqui is currently the partys sole MLA from the Bhangar constituency in South 24 Parganas. Political observers believe that the emergence of the JUP could significantly impact the Trinamool Congress vote base, particularly in minority-dominated Assembly segments in districts such as Murshidabad, Malda, South Dinajpur, North 24 Parganas and South 24 Parganas. Murshidabad district, which has around 70 per cent Muslim voters, could pose a serious challenge to the Trinamool Congresss electoral prospects following the formation of the JUP, observers said.
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