Kolkata, April 10 – Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday dismissed the allegations raised by the Trinamool Congress on Thursday, accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party of having a secret agreement with former Trinamool Congress legislator Humayun Kabir to divide minority voters in West Bengal.
On Thursday, the Trinamool Congress released a video-cum-audio clip in which Kabir was reportedly seen making controversial statements with an unidentified person, hinting at plots to divide minority votes in West Bengal, thus benefiting the BJP, and also entering into a Rs 1,000 crore deal with the saffron camp for that purpose.
Although Kabir himself described the clip as fake and AI-generated, his former political ally, Asaduddin Owaisi-led All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen, announced its decision to withdraw from the alliance it had previously announced with Kabir on Friday morning.
On Friday, Shah, who was in Kolkata to release the BJP’s election manifesto for the upcoming assembly elections in West Bengal later this month, also dismissed the allegations raised by the Trinamool Congress.
He said that the BJP would prefer to sit on the opposition benches in West Bengal for the next 20 years rather than join hands with someone like Kabir, whose only agenda is to build the Babri Mosque in West Bengal.
“You have no idea about Mamata Banerjee’s capabilities. She can make 2,000 such clips. But Humayun Kabir and the BJP are ideologically at opposite poles.
“There can never be an understanding between him and us. We should sit in the opposition bench for 20 years rather than join hands with that person who wants to build a Babri Mosque in West Bengal,” the Union Home Minister told media persons on Friday.
Meanwhile, Kabir, on Friday, also claimed that if the ruling Trinamool Congress is unable to justify the authenticity of the clip, he would file a Rs 2,000 crore defamation suit against the state’s ruling party.
On Thursday, he said that while Rs 1,000 crore was a big amount, he does not have even a one-crore deal with the BJP.