Hummingbird News Desk
KOLKATA, 30 JAN: Hours after the BJP lodged a complaint with the police, national award-winning singer, musician and lyricist Kabir Suman has sought an apology from a journalist for allegedly using abusive language against the scribe.
“I thought the abuse to a fellow citizen over the telephone is an abominable act in the eyes of civil society. It didn’t work out at all. Nothing transpired out of it but many people got angry and excited. As there is the problem of Covid-19 and I don’t want to aggravate it. So, I apologize to the journalist, BJP, RSS and the Bengalis,” Suman said in his social media post.
“If there is anyone else to whom I should apologize, please contact me — I will beg for pardon with my bowed head,” he added.
“If anyone thinks that I am scared and so I apologize — please think. I am weak and incapable of doing anything and so I abused the journalist. If I was strong and capable then I would not have been abused. Our forefathers who drove the British out of the country didn’t abuse them because they were strong and had the courage to change. I don’t have it and so I abuse it,” singer Suman said.
Making it a point that he couldn’t accept the way Sandhya Mukhopadhyay was humiliated by giving her the Padma Shri award, the former TMC MP said, “I want to assure the law-enforcement authorities that I will keep quiet from now onwards.”
On Saturday, the BJPs West Bengal unit had filed a complaint with the police against Suman for allegedly using abusive language against a journalist working with private news channel who had called for his reaction on a particular issue.
“Yesterday, while watching and surfing social media, I came across a news clip, where the said Kabir Suman could be heard speaking to a journalist over phone and using ******** (foul language that cannot be published). He was rampantly abusing the journalist and when the scribe stated that as a Bengali, he is asking certain questions, the said Kabir Suman rampantly abused him with filthy language, which was not expected from a cultured person like him. He was giving rape threats to the Bengali mothers and inciting communal tension and violence,” BJP leader and KMC councillor Sajal Ghosh wrote in his complaint.
“The said statement and voice recording was aired in various social media posts and portals. It is quite disturbing to even believe that a person has the audacity to abuse the Bengali and non-Bengali communities in this fashion in a country where, as per the Constitution, all religions, caste, creeds are to be respected.
“The said statement of Kabir Suman is an insult to the Bengali community, non-Bengali community and to the society at large and he has deliberately done this with malafide intention to defame and abuse the Bengalis whose legacy of culture and contribution to India and the world is immense,” the complaint mentioned.
“It is difficult to digest that a person in the soil of Rabindranath Tagore, Munshi Prem Chand and Subhas Chandra Bose can show the audacity to disrespect Bengalis and non-Bengalis in this fashion. Such acts should be punished and strict action should be taken against Kabir Suman for abusing and spreading hatred against Bengalis and non-Bengalis. His statements will lead to communal clashes, unrest and violence in the society, thereby disrupting peace and tranquillity,” Ghosh wrote in his complaint.
Not only Ghosh, but there has been widespread protest even inside Trinamul Congress against Suman’s choice of words and use of language with a journalist who was merely doing his duty.
Trinamul’s state spokesperson Kunal Ghosh tweeted, “The audio that is circulating – if it is of Kabir Suman – then it is disturbing and should be strongly protested. He should apologise for this. Just because he is an intellectual and creative artiste, it doesn’t give him the licence to say such things.”
Bengali author and intellectual Srijato Bandyopadhyay wrote in a Facebook post: “An artiste is a common man like everybody and his creativity doesn’t give him the liberty to write or say anything – particularly something which is not approved by the society. We should protest against this,” Bandyopadhyay wrote.
Tags: #KabirSuman #TVJournalist #Apology #SajalGhosh
