TMC MLA, suspended over 'Babri Masjid' plan in Murshidabad, announces he'll launch new party

Kolkata/ Baharampur, Dec 4 (PTI) West Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress on Thursday suspended its Bharatpur MLA Humayun Kabir, who had triggered a storm with the proposal to build a mosque modelled on Babri Masjid in Murshidabad district.

Kabir, who has hogged the limelight over the last few years with his controversial statements on various matters, including the party's internal affairs, had announced that the foundation stone of the proposed mosque would be laid at Beldanga on December 6, the day the Babri mosque was razed in Ayodhya in 1992.

Announcing his suspension, senior TMC leader Firhad Hakim said Kabir's conduct amounted to gross indiscipline at a time when the party was working to maintain peace and communal harmony in the state.

With Murshidabad leaders Akhruzzaman and Niamat Sheikh by his side, Hakim said Kabir has been suspended with the approval of CM Mamata Banerjee.

"Kabir was involved in communal politics, which the TMC is strictly against. TMC does not believe in communal politics. He will have no relation with the party from this moment. He is being suspended on the instructions of our top leadership," said the senior state minister.

Hakim, himself a 'mutawalli' of a Kolkata mosque, said the way religious sentiments are being stirred by Kabir is unacceptable for a responsible political party.

"Anyone can build a mosque. But there must be no communal provocation," he said.

The suspension was announced ahead of CM Banerjee's anti-SIR rally in the district headquarters town of Baharampur. Kabir was, in fact, present at the venue of the rally as the news broke.

As waiting reporters mobbed him for a reaction, Kabir said the suspension was a "deliberate humiliation" after being invited to the rally.

Leaving the rally ground, he said he would resign as an MLA and launch a new political outfit on December 22 in the district.

"I have not received any letter. But I will resign as MLA on Friday or Monday," he said.

Kabir said his new outfit will contest 135 of the 294 seats in the assembly in next year's state elections.

"I will expose the chief minister and the TMC over their double standards on secular politics. TMC has been fooling minorities and has a tacit understanding with the RSS-BJP," he alleged.

"The December 6 programme will go ahead as planned. I will not cancel it. If the administration doesn't allow me to lay the foundation stone, I will sit on a dharna and get arrested. I have full faith in the judiciary," he said.

Kabir claimed that lakhs of people would join the December 6 programme, which may block the all-important NH-12 that connects Kolkata in the south to Siliguri in the north.

Later at the rally, the CM reiterated her party does not practise communal politics and is firmly against it, invoking the district’s pluralistic history to caution against attempts to disturb communal harmony.

"We cannot forget the history of Murshidabad. Siraj-ud-Daulah is revered in every home here. This district is the land of the nawabs. It has holy places of all religions. People remember Siraj. The people of Murshidabad will not accept the politics of riots," she said, without naming Kabir.

State BJP president Samik Bhattacharya termed Kabir's suspension a "drama".

"Humayun Kabir has been making controversial remarks for a long time, yet the TMC never took any concrete action. They want to establish the rule of Babur in Bengal," he alleged.

Kabir's choice of December 6 for laying the foundation stone has charged the political atmosphere of the Muslim-dominated district, which witnessed violence during the protests over the Waqf Amendment Act earlier this year.

Raising concerns that the event may lead to the breakdown of the law and order situation of the state, Governor CV Ananda Bose had earlier written to the state government, seeking Kabir's "preventive arrest".

Posters and banners announcing the event were put in several parts of the district, but were found to be vandalised in the last few days.

Officials said no permission has been granted for the programme, and security has been tightened in view of it.

This is not Kabir's first run-in with the TMC. In 2015, he was "expelled" by the party for six years for criticising the CM and alleging that she was trying to make her nephew, Abhishek Banerjee, the "king".

He contested the 2016 assembly elections as an Independent from the Rejinagar seat, but lost to Congress candidate Rabiul Alam Chowdhury. He subsequently joined the Congress, which then had a huge presence in the district, but switched to the BJP ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

The BJP fielded him as its candidate in the Murshidabad Lok Sabha seat, and managed to secure the third spot after the TMC and Congress nominees. He then returned to the TMC and, in 2021, became the MLA of Bharatpur.

Since then, he has been accusing district officials of acting as "RSS agents", publicly challenging the administration, and regularly indicating his desire to form a new outfit.

A senior TMC leader said the action against Kabir was "inevitable" as he was functioning "as a free agent", ignoring warnings and frequently embarrassing the party with remarks that triggered repeated showcause notices.

He said the party could no longer take risks with assembly elections due early next year.

The discomfort within the TMC turned into alarm after Kabir announced his 'Babri Masjid' plan, which the leader said the party resisted from the outset. PTI dc PNT SOM