Kamal Ghorui
KOLKATA: Suspended Trinamool MLA Humayun Kabir has acknowledged that a video released by the party – purportedly showing him seeking Rs 1,000 crore from BJP and calling Muslims “gullible” – is authentic but alleged it was selectively edited from a 51-minute recording. The admission has handed Trinamool fresh ammunition against BJP ahead of Bengal polls after PM Narendra Modi’s comment on TMC circulating AI-generated clips. “The video is true, but only 19 minutes of a 51-minute conversation have been shown. I was speaking to two persons – one claimed to be a sadhu from Siliguri, the other a journalist from Delhi. I have the full video to support my claims,” Kabir said. He alleged that TMC’s Abhishek Banerjee had orchestrated a sting operation, sending a man “disguised as a maharaj” and a Delhi-based journalist to entrap him. The 19-minute clip, titled ‘The Reality of HK’, has not been independently verified. “I will identify them and take legal action. I have six lawyers ready,” he said, adding the recording took place at his Berhampore flat on Dec 19, 2025. “There is no footage showing me meeting any BJP member – not Modi, not Shah,” he said. TMC was quick to use the admission to target BJP. “When Kabir himself has said the video is real, why did the PM call it AI-generated?” a party functionary asked. CM Mamata Banerjee seized on the admission. “You are seeing how a Rs 1,000 crore deal has been made to divide Hindus and Muslims. The person in the video is saying it is real – how will this be covered up now?” she asked at a rally in Bankura’s Onda. The controversy has already claimed political casualties. AIMIM snapped its alliance with Kabir’s AUJP within a day of the video surfacing, saying it “cannot associate with statements where the integrity of Muslims is questioned” and announcing it would contest the Bengal elections independently. The alliance, announced weeks earlier, had envisaged AJUP contesting 182 of Bengal’s 294 seats and AIMIM 17.
