India, Dec. 7 -- On the 32nd anniversary of the demolition of Ayodhya's Babri Masjid, on Saturday, 6 December, in a highly charged political and communal atmosphere, suspended Trinamool Congress (TMC) MLA Humayun Kabir from Bharatpur led the foundation-laying (shilanyas) ceremony of a mosque styled after the Babri Masjid in Beldanga, Murshidabad district. The event was conducted amid unprecedented security preparations. Though hundreds of police personnel were brought in from three neighbouring districts to maintain law and order, sources said that no permission was sought for the gathering.

Kabir's audacious move-following his suspension by the TMC for this very plan-triggered tremors through Bengal's political landscape just over a yea...