Trinamool on Thursday cited a video to accuse breakaway MLA Humayun Kabir of seeking BJP cash to lure away Mamata Banerjee’s Muslim vote, and alleged the involvement of an unnamed PMO official.
“If you give me ₹1,000 crore, it will be to your full advantage. I will get 70-80 seats. Your seats will go up to 100-120. Mamata Banerjee will get less than 100,” a man resembling Kabir appears to say in Hindustani in the 19-minute video.
This newspaper has not verified the authenticity of the video, whose source remains unknown. Kabir and the BJP termed the video an AI-generated fake and threatened legal action.
Kabir had laid the foundation stone for a “Babri Masjid” at Rejinagar (Murshidabad) on December 6, got summarily suspended from Trinamool and then gone on to form the Aam Janata Unnayan Party.
The man in the video purportedly claims proximity to senior BJP leaders, including Suvendu Adhikari, Madhya Pradesh chief minister Mohan Yadav, Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, and an unnamedPMO official.
He appears to say that Muslim voters in Bengal can be made “gumraah” (misled), and to suggest a post-poll alliance with the BJP in exchange for the deputy chief minister’s post.
“So, I will clearly explain to the people after the election that the BJP is at the Centre; in three terms, Mamata Banerjee did not bring development for Muslims…. All Muslims trust me fully.”
The man appears to demand ₹300 crore in advance to influence voters “as was done in Bihar”.
“The BJP can get around 100 to 110 or 120 seats. The BJP will not get 148 seats (majority). Every time I had a discussion with Suvendu Adhikari, I told him the same and he agreed with me,” goes the audio.
“I have been told that if I can get 70-80 seats, I will be the deputy chief minister.”
At one point, the audio goes: “I also told Suvendu, I need money. To bring the Muslim voters to my side I have to spend around ₹3-4 crore (per candidate). Trinamool does not give much money. The candidates I field will be educated ones. It is important to bring Muslim candidates forward. But I need money.”
The man appears to suggest leveraging emotive issues such as the proposed construction of a “Babri Masjid” in Rejinagar to consolidate Muslim support in Bengal and across the country.
It’s unclear who the man is talking to.
Titled “The reality of HK”, the video was uploaded on YouTube on Wednesday and screened at a news conference at the Trinamool headquarters in Calcutta.
“Mamata has 90-100 per cent of Muslim support. If those Muslim votes go away, she will not be in power. Hindus will then have only one option, to vote for the BJP,” the voice says.
At one point, it says: “I will give full support (to the BJP). There is no problem. I will not let Mamata come under any circumstances.”
At another, it adds: “Whoever becomes the chief minister there, the decision-making role will be in my hands.... I don’t aim to become the chief minister.”
Kabir is the Bharatpur MLA from Murshidabad. His party seems to be expanding rapidly across the state and is contesting 188 seats. It has been chartering helicopters for the campaign.
Bengal has witnessed alleged “sting” operations in the past but their electoral impact has been limited.
One of these was a video circulated before the 2024 Lok Sabha polls suggesting the anti-Trinamool agitation in Sandeshkhali was fuelled by BJP cash. The Narada “sting” a decade ago purportedly showed senior officials and Trinamool politicians accepting money.
Trinamool demanded a comprehensive probe into the latest video, questioning the alleged involvement of PMO officials.
“Whichever PMO officers have aided this game of crores of rupees, of misleading people, and of dividing votes must be identified. Humayun Kabir must be officially investigated,” Trinamool state general secretary Kunal Ghosh said.
“The ED must send a notice to Humayun Kabir…. All those involved — especially the names of the PMO officers — must be made public.”
Senior minister Firhad Hakim accused Kabir of “selling Muslim sentiments in the name of a masjid and asking for 1,000 crore for it”.
“My religion is being sold by this Humayun Kabir….. He conspired to sell Muslim self-respect to the BJP,” Hakim said.
Kabir said Trinamool was “plotting” against him because it was “scared” of the Muslim support for him.
“If (the video) is true and proved, I and all the candidates of my party will withdraw from the election,” he said.
“And if they can’t prove it… I will file a defamation case against Hakim and Kunal Ghosh.”
Kabir alleged Trinamool No. 2 Abhishek Banerjee had asked him not to name the mosque he was building after Babar, but he had resisted the pressure.
Suvendu alleged that Trinamool poll strategist I-PAC had made the video using AI and demanded a probe.
BJP spokesperson Debjit Sarkar said: “If the Trinamool Congress has the guts, it should immediately move the Supreme Court or Calcutta High Court. On our part, we will take appropriate legal action against such allegations.”
Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said: “What I see in the video could have happened. I’m not surprised. He (Kabir) engineered riots (in Murshidabad) before the last Lok Sabha elections. Because of this I lost.”
CPM state secretary Md Salim, whose meeting with Kabir at a New Town hotel in February had triggered a controversy within the Left, said he had met the Bharatpur MLA for precisely the reasons “exposed” inthe sting.
“The expose shows that the BJP and the TMC have significant illicit funds for use during the elections. I met Humayun to understand who he would ultimately side with. The meeting made it clear that he was ready to help either the BJP or the TMC, so we decided to keep our distance. But the expose has once again ignited the question about the amount of money the BJP-RSS helped the TMC with in the 2011 elections. One day, the truth will be out,” Salim toldThe Telegraph.
ISF chairman and Bhangar MLA Nawsad Siddique struck a cautious note.
“I did not verify the video. But if what is heard is true then it’s a grave injustice, a very grave crime…. This is a grave insult to the Muslim community.”
Kabir had defected from the Congress to Trinamool in 2013 but got expelled for six years in 2015 for “anti-party activities”. He joined the BJP and contested the Murshidabad Lok Sabha seat unsuccessfully in 2019.
Allowed back into Trinamool after the six-year expulsion period, he won from Bharatpur in 2021 and became a vociferous Abhishek backer. But he kept on embarrassing Trinamool by making communal remarks in public, and was officially reprimanded several times over the past one year.