I refused to be a party slave: Kabir Suman

A day after expressing a desire to quit the Trinamool Congress and the Lok Sabha, singer-turned-parliamentarian Kabir Suman Tuesday said he took the decision as he refused to be a slave of the party.

“I am not a party slave. I am an elected people’s representative. I have not been elected by the party. I can only be a slave of the people,” an angry Suman told a media meet here.

The popular singer-poet said the party had no business to dictate to him about how he should spend his MPS’ local area development fund (MPLAD).

“They don’t have any right to dictate to me. Only the people can, because it is their money. The administrative officials like the district magistrate are there to supervise it. The government accounts people are there to see whether the money is being utilised properly,” he said.

“Some party leaders only tried to put obstacles in my efforts to implement development projects. I was told ‘you don’t have to do anything, you should only sign the files’,” he added.

“But I refused. Maybe some people wanted to make money. So when I routed the projects through NGOs these leaders started complaining that I was ignoring the party. And whichever projects I routed through NGOs, I got excellent results. On the other hand, the local bodies run by our party could not deliver,” he said.

Complaining of being insulted by a section of party leaders, the Lok Sabha member had Monday night expressed a desire to resign from parliament and the party in an SMS to Trinamool supremo Mamata Banerjee.

Suman said he had been insulted time and again for the last 10 months since he won the Lok Sabha polls from Jadavpur.

Attacking Mamata Banerjee, Suman said: “During a recent railway programme in my constituency, some youngsters went up to her and asked her for funds for a playground. She completely ignored me and asked a Rajya Sabha member to release the amount from his quota. It was like a slap on my face.”

The 60-year-old man said he was a misfit in politics. “People like me don’t fit into the scheme of things in politics. I can’t stomach any more insults. Nobody listened to me. I have to compromise on my dignity if I remain in the party”.

Though Suman did not spell out any reason for his decision in the SMS, he later said: “A section of Trinamool leaders had insulted me at Sonarpur in South 24 Parganas district today (Monday). Nobody has dared to insult me like this ever.”

On allegations that he was pro-Maoist, Suman said: “Saying Lal Mohan Tudu (a pro-Maoist tribal leader who died in police firing in West Mindnapore) zindabad does not make me a Maoist. So many Gandhians have opposed the anti-Maoist Operation Greenhunt. Gandhian Himangshu Kumar has been very vocal about the killing of innocent tribals”.

The press conference, however, ended abruptly when some Trinamool members entered the venue and started pleading with Suman not to talk to the media and instead stay in the party, as people like him are needed in public life.

Suman’s SMS to the party chief follows months of bad blood with the Trinamool which had prompted Banerjee to describe the popular poet-singer as a “guest” in the party.

Suman drew Banerjee’s ire late last year for accusing a section of party leaders of misusing funds allocated for development work.

He also sharply criticised his party for not taking a softer line on the Leftwing extremists and openly opposed the anti-Maoist Operation Greenhunt launched by the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, of which the Trinamool is the second largest partner.

Some time back, he had kicked up a fresh storm after composing and rendering a song eulogising arrested pro-Maoist People’s Committee against Police Atrocities (PCAPA) leader Chattradhar Mahato.

Suman changed the face of modern Bengali music in the 1990s with the “jeebonmukhi” genre, writing and singing about people and their lives.