KABIR SUMAN…Fact Sheet

Suman married 5 times as he declared in The Telegraph in 2
September 2007. He had a Bengali wife in seventies, before he
flew for Germany. The marriage was made in Hindu Marriage
Act, not registered. After joining in the German Radio, he
married Maria, a German lady who had a daughter named
Virginia.

In 1999 in a South Kolkata police station, Maria has filed a
complain, criminal in nature, against her husband Suman
Chattopadhya. Her complain include physical assault, physical
torture, mental and verbal abuse, threatening to dire
consequences etc. A case was registered against Suman under
IPC 498.

His daughter Virginia, the then adult has supported the
allegations made by her mother in a separate statement, where
she further alleged that, her father refused to giver her any food
for last couple of weeks. As a result she was compelled to take
shelter in one of her friend’s home and getting her daily food
from there. She has mentioned the name of the friend in the
FIR.

Both Maria and Virginia were citizen of Germany at the time of
this criminal complain. An arrest warrant has issued against
Suman. He has absconded with the help of some Govt and
senior police officials and alter surrendered to the court.

Surprisingly he was granted bail, which is absolutely unlikely in
the case of IPC 498.

In 2000 he has started going Bangladesh frequently, for making
some music videos and albums.

In 2001 he alleged “I have never felt secure in this city and in
this state” following a bomb –hoax. (The Times of India, 10
September 2001)

On the same year he almost left for Bangladesh to work for a
television channel named Channel i. He was assigned some
musical programs for the channel at Bangladesh.

At the same time in India, Maria was trying her best to obtain a
suitable job, failed, and finally got a job in Germany. She has
filed divorce suit and asked for the money and assets, which was
forcibly taken by Suman. (See FIR).

Maria went back but Virginia, officially adopted by Suman by
signing the notarized documents in the Germany court was even
refused to enter his foster- father Suman’s flat to get her
clothes. For some technical reason, Virginia had to stay in
Kolkata for another couple of months, where Suman and his
associates chased her frequently.

At Bangladesh, Suman was scared enough as Maria asked for
her assets back including the flat, as she paid 2/3rd of the total
price of the flat. In the mean time Suman secretly sold the flat
and took the money.

At that time he got acquainted with noted Bangladeshi singer
Sabina Yasmin. His international career as a bridegroom is inert
for now following his marriage with Sabina. But it was not
possible, as he didn’t get the divorce from Maria.

Finally to avoid possible arrest in India and to cheat Maria
financially, he took Islam religion and became, Kabir Suman.

The incident has created irk among the intelligentsia of
Bangladesh. Suman as usual has started extreme indecent
behaviors with the technicians and junior artists of Bangladesh.
One at the time of shooting for a musical program of Channel I,
on floor he shouted with his abusive languages with some clear
disrespect to Islam religion. Mr. Jaheer, the famous star came
forward and kicked him out from the floor with the help of some
senior technicians.

Within next 24 hours an official banned was declared against
Suman by the Cine-technicians association of Bangladesh.
Fartdur Reja Sagar, the Manging Director of Channel I and
Sagar’s mother Rabeya Khatun, noted National Award winner in
literature issued a statement condemning Suman and apologized
for providing job to their channel. After issuing this statement,
Indian High Commission was called Suman for interrogation.

The Cine-technician’s Association for defaming Islam religion and
abusive behaviour lodged an FIR against Suman.

Suman was forced to leave Bangladesh permanently as he was
declared Personae-Non-Gratis by Bangladesh High Commission
from 2001 end till 2008.

It is further believed that he seduced an young girl who was
residing in nearby slum and as a result he had to face a deep
thrush form the people of that slum.
.
‘I am a polygamous man. Maybe IÕm still
searching for loveÕÉ
Kabir Suman, the F-word spewing poet-singer, tells Dola Mitra that people are more
interested in his alleged womanising than in his songs Tête à tête. 02 September 2007
We were in awe of the man. He was in his thirties then and,
unlike other adults, made generous use of the F-word in front
of us. He was idealistic, anti-establishment and irreverent with
a Che Guevara-ish aura around him. “God, he’s cute,” I
remember a classmate giggling when she saw him in our
house.
Kabir Suman lived in the United States then and worked as a
radio broadcaster for the Voice of America. Of course, in the
Eighties he was not Kabir Suman, but Suman Chattopadhyay
or simply Suman Kaku (Uncle Suman) as we kids called him.
Now, all these years later, when I meet the 58-year-old
musician in his Calcutta house, he has, by his own admission,
gained a potbelly and lost all his hair. But what remains
unchanged is his love for invectives. Especially those that
express his life’s philosophy — “I don’t give a damn.” If he was allowed just one phrase
for the rest of his life, it would be, “F- you” or its variation, “F- off.” That’s what Kabir
Suman has to say to all the “dim-wits” who misunderstand him. “They don’t have the
brains or the balls to understand me,” he says. “But I don’t give a damn.”
But who are these “they”? On the phone, when I call him to ask for an interview, which I
warn him would delve into his personal life, he says, “Are you going to ask me if I still
womanise?” “Well, do you?” I ask him somewhat rhetorically. “That’s all they want to
know about me,” he chuckles. “How many women I slept with.” He, of course, uses an
unprintable version of the phrase and says, helpfully, “You can quote me on that.”
Then he adds gravely, “I don’t see how that is relevant to the context of my music. I don’t
see people remarking about my solo performances, in which I have toiled like a manual
labourer sometimes for three hours at a stretch.”
Suman, among the first poet-singers of the state, makes news. His path-breaking album of
1992, Tomake Chai, was a collection of self-composed songs on themes existential,
mundane, philosophical and critical, which not only won him enormous acclaim, but
triggered a trend in contemporary Bengali music. Suman went on to record over 200
songs in more than 15 albums.
Yet, Suman says he is dismayed to find that the focus is less on his work than on his socalled
‘womanising’. “It hurts,” he says, stubbing out the hundredth cigarette and with his
fingers dramatically stabbing the area over his heart. It hurts him that the vision behind
his poetry — reflected in his lyrics such as “Pagol… shaap-ludo khelchhey bidhataar
shongey,” (from Tomake Chai), which evoke the hopelessness of the street madman
playing hide-and-seek with god — gets blurred in the myopia of middle-class morality.
He identifies with the madman and his inability to be contained within the boundaries set
for him. “The mind craves to be free,” Suman says slowly. “The body craves to be free.”
And then after a pause, “But all they want to know is how many times I married. Some
say six. Others put the figure at 60. Even 600.”
Suman, for the record, got married five times. But he says that he doesn’t believe in the
institution of marriage. “Marriage is another form of bondage. I wish I hadn’t done it so
many times. But it’s like a besetting sin. I keep doing it. It is out of deep respect for the
woman I love that I marry her. I don’t want her to suffer any indignity. But I am a
polygamous man. Maybe I am still searching for love.”
Suman would rather not talk about the women in his life, except to say that he has been
“enriched” by each of them. But he brightens up at the mention of his only and adopted
child, the daughter of his ex-wife, Maria. “She made me a father,” he grins.
Now married to noted Bangladeshi singer, Sabina Yasmin, Suman explains why he
embraced Islam. “I decided to get rid of my Hindu Brahmin identity on the day that
Graham Staines and his two boys were burnt alive,” he says, referring to the murder of
the Australian missionary and his sons by Hindu fundamentalists in 1999.
After much deliberation, Suman zeroed in on the name, Kabir Suman. “I wanted to keep
the name my parents gave me, so I kept Suman. I took the name Kabir after Sheikh
Kabir, a Bengali Muslim poet who wrote Baishnab Padabali.”
Suman is a self-confessed agnostic and nihilist-anarchist, though, as he says, “of an
academic sort.” He talks about his miniscule existence in a vast universe. But when you
ask him whether he doesn’t attribute all this immensity to something or someone, he
reflects for a moment. “You mean God? If there was a God, there wouldn’t be cruelty to
animals and children,” he replies.
Justice is a prevalent theme in his work. In a recent album he condemns the Nandigram
massacre. “Yes, I do have strong opinions on issues,” he says, but he wants to set the
record straight about his alleged involvement in the Naxalite movement of the Sixties and
Seventies. He wants to dispel the “wilful misconception” that he fled the country in 1975
because he was hounded out by the police for his politics.
“I want to categorically state that I was never a part of either the Naxal Party or any
political party. Not just because I did not believe that China’s chairman was our
chairman, but because I simply did not have the time to pursue politics.” Clearly, what
kept him busy was his music — he was being trained in Hindustani classical music from
the age of 12, and doing riyaaz for over six hours every day. He was also a voracious
reader, having gone on to study English Literature in Jadavpur University.
Suman says his escape from the country had to do with a love affair gone wrong. “I was
involved with a woman, whose parents had connections with a major political party. This
was right before the Emergency. They were trying to frame me and I would have been
put behind bars. When I got wind of it, I bolted.” He took a plane to Germany , where he
initially did odd jobs as a helping hand and fruit picker in cherry orchards. Then he
worked as a radio journalist for the Voice of Germany when it started its Bengali
language section before going to the US.
He says that it feels like many aeons have passed since then. He has made some mistakes
along the way. But his “biggest mistake”, he says, was returning to Calcutta — the city
which he had grown to love after moving there from Cuttack with his family at the age of
5.
But you remind him of all the adulation that was showered on him. “That’s because they
found me interesting. Here was this middle-aged man with a protruding belly and a bald
patch, strumming a guitar and cracking jokes. They had never seen such a spectacle
before. But this praise had nothing to do with my music,” Suman shoots back. And what
about his huge fan following, evident in the mushrooming of Bengali youth bands that try
and emulate his music? The numerous websites dedicated to him, such as the Kabir
Suman Forum that claims to be the most authentic provider of news related to him? “I
don’t disrespect their efforts,” Suman says, looking a little surprised that so much activity
has spawned around him, “but I have nothing to do with these.”
Lately, Suman has had a recurrent vision. “I see a rocky mountain upon which the last
rays of the sun are falling. There is a row of people, all of whom are dead. I can see my
dead parents, my brother, my gurus, my friends. And at the end of the row there is a place
for me. And then there is silence and immense peace,” he says.
“I welcome death,” Suman says, and smiles. “I have lived enough. Today I like to spend
a lot of time alone, with my music and my books.” His Bach and his Bibhuti Bhushan, his
Russell and his Rabindrasangeet. “And I think I am also gradually becoming
monogamous,” he laughs. And then he quotes a couple of lines from St Thomas’s Diary:
“ Lord, give me chastity. But not yet.”
Interesting enough, one of her Muslim candidate is the infamous Kabir Suman, the
agnostic-nihilist-anarchist and self proclaimed polygamous singer. Kabir Suman doesn't
believe in the institution of marriage but amazingly has wed five times ‘out of deep
respect for the woman’! (The Telegraph, 2 September 2007) Media report suggests that
his former German wife Maria had dragged him to court on grounds of torture. His
international career as a bride-groom is inert for now following his marriage with Sabina
Yasmin, a noted singer from Bangladesh. As a requisite to marry Sabina, he embraced
Islam and became a Muslim. Kabir Suman himself has given a different ‘progressive’
reason of his conversion: “I decided to get rid of my Hindu Brahmin identity on the day
that Graham Staines and his two boys were burnt alive.” The Australian missionary
Graham Staines and his sons were murdered in Keonjhar district of Orissa in January
1999 by Dara Singh, an affiliate of Bajrang Dal – the Hindu hooligan-activist group. The
Bajrang Dal is intimately tied up with the hydra-headed RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak
Sangh) just like BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) – its political wing. In October the same
year Mamata Banerjee had pompously joined the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance
(NDA) government and became the Railways Minister.
While announcing her list of female candidates, Mamata Banerjee evidently stated that
people should not consider her as a ‘female’ at all as she thinks herself just ‘a human
being’. She ‘belongs’ among everything and therefore is above any gender identity. By
saying so she has cleared all anxiety from the minds of her devoted admirers who were
getting quite nervous about Kabir Suman’s proximity and subsequent encroachment.
Kabir Suman is the only celebrity from the big names of Bengal’s intellectual fraternity
and civil society campaigners of Singur-Nandigram agitation who has blissfully agreed to
contest the polls with a Trinamool ticket. It is certainly a big disappointment not to find
any other ‘awake and aware’ names in the Trinamool list! This ‘cultural crusader’, as the
media loves to describe him, has passed adulatory remarks on Mamata to a TV channel
immediately after his candidature was announced by her. He proclaimed that Mamata is
not only necessary for Bengal or India but is also immensely crucial for the well being of
the entire planet!
Recently, in a hot gathering of Trinamool party workers, Kabir Suman elevated his
sycophancy to a newer level. He reportedly remarked that “Mamata does not just mean
Mamata Banerjee. It means our soil, our earth, water and animals” and asked the party
workers to start greeting each other by ‘Jai Mamata’. “Bengal never had any democracy.
Today democracy is emerging …” he ecstatically reveled to the crowd. (see link) Kabir
Suman carries a sly brain inside his head. Whether he will win the election or lose is a
different question but it took him lesser time to grasp the cajoling culture of Trinamool.
In a sense Kabir Suman shares a reciprocal relationship with Mamata. Like Mamata,
Kabir Suman also has a stinking mouth. In a protest gathering during the peak Nandigram
days, Kabir Suman pulled a girl to the stage and yelled against the CPI(M) leaders, “Son
of a whore Laxman Seth, dumbfuck Binoy Kongar, come and rape in CPM style…let’s
see what you can do!” (see link) A good section of bhadrolok (gentleman) Bengalis were
highly impressed by his ‘let’s kill three CPM everyday’ appeal as a bold and daring
attempt to register protest against the CPI(M) ‘atrocities’. He had once enthralled his
audience by turning his buttocks towards them and asking them to find out how sweet
they are. Otherwise why do his critics, those who “don't have the brains or the balls to
understand me” love to pinch them? This firebrand jack of all trades poet-lyricistcomposer-
singer-journalist-writer-actor-activist’s frequent and spontaneously disgorged
F-words are also been appreciated by a section of the ‘cultured’ Bengali middle class who
loves to see in him a Bengali Bob Dylan. They get emotionally tempted to admire this
lexicon and irreverent attitude. One intense critic of CPI(M) has once furiously written
(see link) that the enduring contribution of the thirty two-year rule of the CPI(M) in
Bengal is “vulgarization of the Bengali language, vandalization of the Bengali culture”.
Why can’t the author, a former Secretary to the Government of India, for once mention
that the language of Kabir Suman is similarly “threatening the very basis of Bengali
language”? He probably contemplates the language of Kabir Suman as a blow for blow
response to the ‘vulgar’ CPI(M) and thus praiseworthy!
In the year 2001, Kabir Suman had created a great fuss when he claimed to receive a
phone call threatening to blow up his house. Immediately this former VOA (Voice of
America) employee started distributing a chain of e-mails to his friends and well-wishers
using a Bangladesh-based website. He wrote in the mail that though he was “…quite used
to such threats since 1993” things have become “even worse now” and he is “not feeling
safe in Kolkata”. He also alleged that “I have never felt secure in this city and in this
state”. (The Times of India, 10 September 2001) This deceitful and obnoxious plot was
hatched by him to establish his core agenda: how dangerously unsafe Kolkata has
become under the Left rule (read CPIM rule) where a law abiding citizen, especially a
‘Muslim’ like him can be so easily threatened. This is a typical Mamata Banerjee style
gimmickry and deception that Kabir Suman has flawlessly adopted. However we still
remember that the same law abiding citizen was once reprimanded by the Kolkata police
because he was found to be abusing and threatening a popular Bengali screen actor every
night on telephone.
Kabir Suman’s entrance into the Bengal cultural milieu in the early 1990s with songs
dotted with sympathetic social commentary and bouts of progressivism had acted as a
balm on the urban emotions of Bengali youth. In his songs he articulated about his dream
of bringing a change in the system, a dream very near and dear to the heart of Bengali
middle class. He sang about his hope to see worldwide collective farms before dying,
sang about familiar anger, rages and unknown reconciliation, on endless longing for a
classless society, about unsung victims and heroes, about the disgust, disdain and
adoration of urban life. His lyrics were highly critical about vote bank politics, has
‘artistically and intellectually’ criticized the mainstream communist parties for adapting
the path of parliamentary democracy. His advice to the Rajus and Amits of the younger
generation was to keep away from vote politics and bombs which he considered equally
dangerous for their future. Today after his candidature was announced, the same Kabir
Suman has said, “If anything has to be changed it has to be through parliamentary
democracy.” To him, “Trinamool Congress is not merely a political party, it is a
movement.” Days are not far when we will see him pronouncing that Trinamool
Congress is the only political party and Mamata Banerjee is the only leader ‘not only in
Bengal or India but in the entire planet’ that will bring to an end his ‘endless longing for a
classless society'.
The French writer Andre Gide once said that a true hypocrite is the one who ceases to
perceive his deception and lies with sincerity. The words of Gide fittingly delineates
Mamata Banerjee’s cute and celebrity ‘Muslim’ candidate Kabir Suman.