Union home minister Amit Shah (PTI photo)
NEW DELHI: Union home minister Amit Shah on Friday strongly trashed the rumours spreading like wildfire over a purported video of controversial ex-TMC leader Humayun Kabir allegedly claiming a “Rs 1,000 crore deal” with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to dislodge Mamata Banerjee’s ruling Trinamool in West Bengal elections.Amit Shah, camping in Bengal to leave no stone unturned in the high-voltage polls, said Kabir and the BJP can never align, like the North and the South Pole.Addressing a press conference after releasing the BJP’s manifesto for the Bengal polls, Shah accused Mamata Banerjee’s party of “manufacturing political conspiracies”.”You do not know Mamata Banerjee’s capabilities. She can make 2,000 such videos. Humayun Kabir and the BJP are like the North Pole and the South Pole. We can never be together,” Shah was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.The Union Home Minister said the BJP would rather sit in the opposition for 20 years than forge an alliance with Humayun Kabir, who came to the spotlight for pledging to build Babri Masjid in Bengal.”We would rather sit in the opposition for 20 years than sit with those who talk about building a Babri Masjid in Bengal,” Amit Shah said.Kabir, too, denied the allegations and described the video as fabricated and generated through artificial intelligence. “I have not entered into any agreement with anyone. The clip circulated by the Trinamool Congress does not show who was sitting across from me or in what context the remarks were made,” he said.He also sought to turn the tables on the ruling party by invoking the Narada sting case.”Firhad Hakim and Sougata Roy were seen taking money in the Narada videos. What happened to that case?” he asked.Kabir had on Thursday threatened to move court against TMC general secretary Abhishek Banerjee and minister Firhad Hakim if they failed to substantiate the allegation of a multi-crore deal.Even as he dismissed the controversy, Kabir made it clear that he had no intention of retreating from the electoral battle.”I was born alone and will fight alone. I will not retreat from the battle I have begun,” he said.The controversy was triggered by a purported 19-minute video circulated by the All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Thursday, which it claimed showed Kabir referring to a secret understanding with the BJP.In the video, whose authenticity PTI could not independently verify, a person resembling Kabir was allegedly heard claiming proximity to Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari and Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.The individual was also heard saying he was prepared to go to “any extent” to remove Mamata Banerjee from power and had received Rs 200 crore in advance as part of a larger Rs 1,000 crore arrangement.The TMC cited the video to allege that Kabir’s anti-Mamata stance and his efforts to build a Muslim political front were part of a covert BJP strategy to split minority votes in key districts such as Murshidabad, Malda, Uttar Dinajpur, and Birbhum.The BJP, however, moved swiftly to distance itself from Kabir.
