Owaisi’s AIMIM breaks up with Humayun Kabir’s AJUP over viral ‘vote-splitting conspiracy’ video
New Delhi: The Asaduddin Owaisi-led All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) on Friday severed its alliance with suspended Trinamool legislator Humayun Kabir’s Aam Janata Unnayan Party (AJUP), announcing that it will contest the upcoming West Bengal elections independently.
The decision comes a day after the Trinamool Congress (TMC) released a video from a purported sting operation in which Kabir is seen claiming that he planned—allegedly at the behest of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) top leadership—to engineer a split in Muslim votes that had largely consolidated behind Mamata Banerjee in the previous polls.
Kabir dismissed the video as AI-generated, while the BJP alleged that it could have been scripted by Kabir and the TMC to damage the party’s prospects by portraying its leadership in a poor light.
Nonetheless, AIMIM’s decision to walk away from the AJUP is likely to cheer the TMC camp, which had grown wary of indications that Owaisi and Kabir, who were scheduled to hold joint rallies Friday, could eat into minority votes, potentially benefiting the BJP in what is expected to be a tightly contested election.
In a statement, AIMIM said the “revelations” concerning Kabir had exposed how “vulnerable Bengal’s Muslims are”, adding that the party could not associate with any statements that call into question the community’s integrity.
“As of today, AIMIM has withdrawn its alliance with Kabir’s party. Bengal’s Muslims are among the poorest, most neglected and oppressed communities. Despite decades of secular rule, little has been done for them. AIMIM contests elections to provide marginalised communities with an independent political voice. We will contest the Bengal elections independently and will have no alliance with any party going forward,” the party posted on social media platform X.
Owaisi had earlier announced that AIMIM, then planning to contest 11 seats, would tie up with the AJUP in future elections. However, ThePrint’s ground reporting over the past two weeks in Muslim-dominated pockets of Bengal found that Kabir had begun to capture the imagination of a section of the community. His announcement that his trust would build a mosque in Beldanga modelled on the demolished Babri Masjid had particularly struck a chord with many Muslims who had until now backed the TMC.
Following the TMC’s attack on him Thursday, Kabir told reporters that the video clip was fabricated using AI. He also challenged the TMC to disclose the exact time and venue of his alleged meetings with top leaders of the BJP.
Kabir warned that he would initiate defamation proceedings against West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee, the party’s national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, as well as senior leaders and ministers Firhad Hakim and Jyotipriya Biswas if they failed to substantiate their claims.
Kabir further alleged that the episode was a deliberate attempt by the TMC to discredit him out of fear of losing Muslim support. He said the circulation of what he described as a fabricated video not only targeted him but also trivialised and disrespected the sentiments of the Muslim community by attributing statements to him through AI.
(Edited by Nardeep Singh Dahiya)
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