Kolkata: While addressing a massive anti-SIR rally in Berhampore on Thursday, Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo Mamata Banerjee launched a sharp attack on suspended party MLA Humayun Kabir—without naming him—branding him a “Mirzafar-gaddar” and that some “traitors take BJP’s money to stoke communal tensions”.
Kabir, the MLA from Bharatpur in Murshidabad, was suspended from the Trinamool Congress earlier in the day after he declared he would build a replica of the Babri Masjid in the district and reiterated plans to hold a December 6 ‘shilanyas’ (foundation stone laying) for a proposed mosque modelled on the disputed structure. His suspension, approved directly by Banerjee, was announced by Cabinet minister and Kolkata Mayor Firhad Hakim at a Press conference, where he alleged Kabir was attempting to “instigate” people by invoking the Babri Masjid.
Addressing the rally, Banerjee said the people of Murshidabad would never allow communal tensions to take root. She alleged that certain errant persons are spreading rumours after taking money from the BJP. “Don’t believe them. There are some Mirzafar-gaddars in every religion. They are trying to create riots in Murshidabad. They are basically agents of the BJP,” she said.
She further alleged that the BJP was maintaining contact with some Trinamool leaders to fuel unrest. “They are being funded to spread communal tension and then they will blame the Trinamool Congress. This won’t happen,” Banerjee said, stressing that the party rejects communal politics.
Invoking the district’s pluralistic history, Banerjee reminded the gathering that Murshidabad has traditionally upheld unity. “This is the land where history teaches us that betrayal brings ruin and harmony brings strength. We will protect that harmony,” she said—a reference to the Battle of Plassey in 1757, when Mir Jafar betrayed Nawab Siraj-ud-Daulah and later became the first Nawab of Bengal under the British East India Company.