BEHRAMPUR (WB), Dec 4: The Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Thursday suspended Bharatpur MLA Humayun Kabir for what it termed “communal politics” amidst a flashpoint over his plan to lay the foundation of a Babri Masjid-style mosque in West Bengal’s Murshidabad on December 6, the Babri demolition anniversary.
A defiant Kabir retaliated almost instantly, announcing he would resign as MLA, launch his own party later this month, and press ahead with the programme even if it meant getting “arrested or killed..
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee launched a sharp attack on Kabir without naming him, calling him a “Mirzafar-gaddar (traitor)”, who has taken money from the BJP to stoke communal tensions.
Senior minister Firhad Hakim declared the suspension in Kolkata saying the decision had been approved by the CM.
“Kabir was involved in communal politics, which the TMC is strictly against. He will have no relation with the party from this moment,” Hakim said, stressing that the ruling party “does not believe in communal provocation” at a time it is working to maintain peace before next year’s Assembly polls.
Hakim, himself a mutawalli (trustee) of a Kolkata mosque, underlined the party’s discomfort with Kabir’s rhetoric.
“Anyone can build a mosque. But there must be no communal provocation. The way religious sentiments are being stirred is unacceptable for a responsible political party,” he said.News of the suspension broke even as Kabir sat at the venue of the CM’s anti-SIR rally in Baharampur, where the TMC had invited him earlier.
Kabir called it a “deliberate humiliation”, asserting he had been “conspired against”.
He said he had not yet received any letter but would resign as MLA “on Friday or Monday”, and that he would float a new political outfit on December 22.The new party, he claimed, would contest 135 seats in the 2026 Assembly elections. (PTI)
