TMC legislative party cautions MLA Humayun Kabir over provocative remarks amid Suvendu row

Kolkata: The TMC legislative party on Tuesday cautioned its member Humayun Kabir to not make provocative and communally sensitive remarks in public and directed him to abide by party discipline.

Kabir was summoned to the chamber of Parliamentary Affairs Minister Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay for certain comments against Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari during the recess and told to not utter anything which would go against the party.

"We have told Kabir in unequivocal terms that whatever be the provocations you have to follow the party line. You must not say anything which will go against the spirit of the Constitution. We all follow and profess our religious identities but that should not precede our identity as lawmakers who have taken an oath to protect the secular pluralistic democratic principles of the Constitution," Chattopadhyay told reporters at his chamber.

Chattopadhyay is the head of the four-member disciplinary committee of the TMC legislative party.

He claimed that Kabir promised not to make any inappropriate comments in public in future.

Asked if it was the directive to Kabir in the wake of his belligerent stance on the issue, Chattopadhyay said, "You can say so."

"Our leader Mamata Banerjee had recently asked all ministers and MLAs not to comment on any provocative statement of any (BJP) leader and leave it for the top leadership to formulate a response so that the situation doesn't escalate," he said.

"Also it was emphasised to Kabir that one cannot speak anything which might be inferred against the party. He agreed," Chattopadhyay said.

On Monday, the disciplinary committee of the Trinamool Congress said it is not satisfied with Kabir's reply to a show cause notice over his controversial remarks against BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari and summoned him for a clarification.

An intransigent Kabir, however, had on Monday said he would not retract his comments and would tell the disciplinary committee "whatever I deem fit" as he is not afraid of the party's possible action against him.

Kabir, the Bharatpur legislator, slammed the leader of the opposition on March 12 after Adhikari said that TMC's Muslim MLAs would be "thrown out" of the assembly if the saffron party came to power.