A fresh political storm has erupted in Hyderabad after Tehreek Muslim Shabban president Mushtaq Malik announced plans to construct a “Babri Masjid Memorial” along with welfare institutions in the Greater Hyderabad region. The declaration, made during a public meeting on December 6 the 33rd anniversary of the Babri Masjid demolition triggered immediate and sharp reactions from the Bharatiya Janata Party, which called the move “dangerous” and “provocative”.
Malik, who also heads the Telangana Muslim Joint Action Committee, said the decision was taken collectively at the public meeting. He claimed the memorial, envisioned as a tribute to the demolished mosque, would be “grounded by December next year,” adding that further details of the project will soon be made public. Referring to a similar initiative recently announced in West Bengal’s Murshidabad, Malik said debates around the name “Babur” were politically manufactured to divide communities.
The BJP, however, sees the move as a direct attempt to reignite a sensitive dispute long settled by the Supreme Court’s Ayodhya verdict. BJP Telangana spokesperson NV Subhash warned that such remarks could disturb communal harmony and urged the state government to intervene immediately. National general secretary Tarun Chugh went a step further, asserting that the country would “never accept any monument in the name of Babur,” whom he described as a symbol of oppression.
The party also accused the newly formed Congress government under Revanth Reddy of remaining silent, alleging that inaction emboldens groups that thrive on religious polarisation. The Hyderabad announcement comes on the heels of a similar foundation-laying ceremony by a suspended TMC MLA in West Bengal, who has claimed support from AIMIM leader and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi.
With back-to-back developments surfacing in two states, the decades-old Babri dispute has once again re-entered the political narrative, raising concerns over renewed tension and polarisation.
