Attempts made to disturb peace & harmony of state, says Humayun Kabir as he gears up to take on Bharati Ghosh of BJP

Kolkata: Confident of wining, Midnapore's son of the soil former IPS officer Humayun Kabir is fighting as Mamata Banerjee's lieutenant to give a befitting reply "democratically" to the BJP for allegedly offering Rs 30,000 each to booth workers at Debra.

Soon after Trinamool Congress (TMC) chairperson Mamata Banerjee nominated him as her party's candidate from Debra Assembly constituency in West Midnapore, Kabir held marathon meetings with the party's leaders and workers on Friday evening itself.

"I was told by my party colleagues at the constituency that BJP is offering Rs 30,000 each to our booth workers. Following what our party supremo is saying in this regard, I also told them to take the money to have food and to continue working as a genuine worker of the party," said Kabir who was born and completed his schooling in a small hamlet of Debra itself.

Explaining the reason behind joining Trinamool Congress that happened coincidentally after he resigned to concentrate more in directing movies, he stated that Bengal's overall development carried out by the Mamata Banerjee government and the country's alarming political scenario in the past few years prompted him to join politics.

Slamming BJP, the IPS officer shared his first hand experience of witnessing how the saffron brigade had attempted to disturb the peace and harmony in the month of January when he was posted as Commissioner of Chandernagore Police Commissionerate. "In January this year, there was a rally of BJP leaders that included Suvendu Adhikari and Locket Chatterjee till Mankundu in Hooghly. Their supporters were found shouting "desh ki gaddaro ko, goli maro salo ko" only at specific minority dominated area and not in the entire stretch of the rally. It shows that it was done purposely to disturb the law and order situation,' Kabir said, adding that he had never witnessed such a situation of the country ever before where one is labelled "anti-national" just for slightly criticising the Centre's policies.

"The political scenario in the entire country is alarming. The Preamble of our constitution says that India is sovereign, socialist, secular and democratic. It has been dented since the past few years," he said.

Recollecting his childhood days of crossing muddy paddy fields to reach school situated one and a half kilometres away from his house, Kabir expressed his gratitude to the party supremo for allowing him to contest from his hometown so that he can ensure further development of the place where he had spent his childhood days.

The IPS officer of 2003 batch, who stepped into politics just a couple of months, Kabir said that his first target is to defeat BJP in Debra and it would be the party's decision whether to induct him in the cabinet. Trinamool Congress had won the Debra seat in 2016 by 8,813 votes but trailed in 2019 Lok Sabha election by 4019 votes. "An Assembly poll is always different from that of Parliamentary election. People will give mandate in favour of development carried out by Mamata Banerjee in this election," he said.

Meanwhile, with BJP announcing list of 57 candidates on Saturday, a high-octave poll battle is on the offing at Debra as Kabir takes on BJP's Bharati Ghosh, a former IPS officer.