TMC suspends Humayun Kabir over 'Babri Masjid-style' mosque plan; rebel MLA warns of Dec 6 showdown

Baharampur, Dec 4 (PTI) 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.

The rebel MLA, a serial defector who has moved between the Congress, TMC and BJP before returning to the ruling party, insisted the December 6 foundation-laying event at Beldanga would not be cancelled.

"Lakhs of people will attend. If the administration tries to stop us, NH-12 may be blocked," he warned, adding that he might be "killed to silence him".

If prevented, he said, he would sit on a dharna and "get arrested", asserting he has "full faith in the judiciary".

Officials said no permission had been granted for the programme.

The political temperature has risen sharply in the Muslim-dominated district, which witnessed unrest earlier this year during protests over the Waqf Amendment Act.

Governor C V Ananda Bose, citing fears of a breakdown in law and order, on Wednesday wrote to the state government seeking Kabir's "preventive arrest".

Hours later at the Baharampur rally, Banerjee delivered a pointed message without naming the suspended MLA, invoking Murshidabad's pluralistic heritage to caution against attempts at communal provocation.

"We cannot forget the history of Murshidabad. Siraj-ud-Daulah is revered in every home here. This district is the land of the nawabs, home to sacred places of all religions. The people of Murshidabad will not accept the politics of riots," she said.

The CM said, "In every religion there are betrayers. Some traitors take money and serve the BJP before the polls. Remember, they are your enemies." A senior TMC leader said action against Kabir had become inevitable. He had long acted like a free agent, ignoring warnings and embarrassing the party with repeated provocations.

His mosque plan became the tipping point, turning leadership discomfort into alarm over a move insiders say they resisted from the start.

Kabir has been at the centre of several controversies since returning to the TMC in 2021, when he won the Bharatpur seat.

He has routinely accused district leaders of acting as "RSS agents", and frequently hinted at floating a new outfit.

Kabir, often seen in the TMC as a "loose cannon", had also sparked outrage during the Lok Sabha campaign in the district with a 70:30 Muslim-Hindu ratio, by claiming he could "throw BJP supporters into the Bhagirathi within two hours", drawing sharp condemnation from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP top brass.

A former Congress MLA who joined the TMC in 2012, this is not Kabir's first run-in with the ruling party; in 2015, he was expelled for six years after criticising Banerjee and alleging she wanted to make her nephew Abhishek the "king".

He contested the 2016 elections as an Independent and lost, joined the Congress, switched to the BJP ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, lost again, and later returned to the TMC.

The BJP dismissed the suspension as "drama", with state president Samik Bhattacharya saying Kabir had long made incendiary remarks without action from the TMC, which he alleged now wanted to "establish Babur's rule" in Bengal.

Political observers say the move helps the TMC close ranks before the polls and neutralises a potentially destabilising internal challenge tied to a sensitive communal date.

But for now, Kabir appears intent on confrontation, not capitulation.

"I will expose the chief minister and the TMC's double standards on secular politics. They have been fooling minorities and have a tacit understanding with the RSS-BJP," he alleged. PTI DC PNT SOM BDC MNB