Guwahati, Feb 9 – The political tensions in Assam escalated on Monday, with Himanta Biswa Sarma intensifying his accusations against Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi regarding his alleged links with Pakistan, and Gogoi accusing Sarma of inciting genocide against Muslims through his videos, demanding police action.
Meanwhile, Sarma, who is facing scrutiny over a video purportedly showing him aiming a rifle and firing at two people, one wearing a skullcap and the other with a beard, clarified that he was unaware of the visual clip.
The video, posted by Assam BJP on its official social media handle on Saturday, was deleted after a significant political backlash.
The Sarma-Gogoi confrontation has deepened the political landscape in Assam ahead of the assembly elections, which are scheduled to be held in the next three months.
Addressing a press conference, a day after Sarma accused Gogoi of visiting Pakistan clandestinely in 2013, and suggesting that he had received training there, Gogoi stated that there was no evidence in the Assam Police report to support Sarma's allegations of links with Pakistan.
Gogoi also questioned why Sarma had not acted on the report for six months, given the evidence it presented.
As Gogoi discussed his 2013 visit to Pakistan, Sarma demanded a transparent explanation regarding the trip to Rawalpindi, asserting that his visa "explicitly permitted travel only to Lahore, Karachi, and Islamabad," and that travel beyond these cities was not permitted without specific authorization under Pakistan's immigration rules.
In an apparent reference to the deleted video, Gogoi alleged that "the Assam Chief Minister is inciting genocide against Muslims through his videos... The police must take immediate action against Sarma for targeting a particular community and sharing malicious social media content."
Speaking to reporters at Dibrugarh, Sarma said, "I have no knowledge of any video."
He also stated that he was unaware of any police case filed by Asaduddin Owaisi, president of AIMIM, in Hyderabad.
"If there is a case against me, I am willing to face the consequences. I will uphold my words," Sarma added.
Owaisi had lodged a complaint with the Hyderabad Police, seeking criminal action against Himanta over the now-deleted video.
Gogoi alleged that Sarma made "hate speeches" against a minority community, and the matter was taken to court, referring to recent statements by the chief minister that "Miyas" would continue to face trouble as long as he was in power.
"Miya" is a derogatory term used for Bengali-speaking Muslims in Assam, and non-Bengali-speaking people generally identify them as Bangladeshi immigrants. In recent years, members of this community have adopted this term as a form of defiance.
"The chief minister did not want to reveal the SIT report. He sat over it for six months. He went through it page by page but could not find any evidence to support his allegations of my receiving training (in Pakistan), being an ISI agent, etc.," Gogoi said.
Sarma and the BJP have been attacking Gogoi over his wife's alleged connection with Pakistan's spy agency, ISI, with the state government forming a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe alleged interference of Pakistani national Ali Tauqeer Sheikh, claimed to have links with Gogoi's British wife Elizabeth Colburn, in India's internal affairs.
Revealing details of the SIT report on Sunday, Sarma had alleged that Gogoi, Colburn, and Sheikh have a "deeper connection," and that information from the IB was secretly provided to the neighbouring nation.
He said that the Assam government has decided to refer the case and the SIT report to the central government for further investigation.
Dismissing the allegations, Gogoi said "dragging" his minor children into it was a "new low for even the chief minister."
"Details about my children, aged 5 and 9 years, were made public. I want to warn the CM that we also know about your children, who are older, but we don't want to reveal anything. Don't force us to do so," Gogoi said.
He also stated that he was being denied the security cover given to the state Congress president.
Regarding his 10-day stay in Pakistan in December 2013, Gogoi claimed that his wife had visited the neighbouring country for work-related purposes and he had accompanied her.
"I wanted to see how a European had stayed in a country like Pakistan… We visited many places, including Takshashila. The SIT never questioned me about my visit. It should have questioned me as the chief minister was talking about it yesterday," the Congress leader said.
Gogoi maintained that his visit was on valid permissions and his personal passport, which he submitted to the Centre in 2014 after being elected as MP, has all the records, including VISA permissions.
While Gogoi's press meet was underway, Sarma posted on X: "Takshashila (Taxila) is not located in Islamabad, but in Rawalpindi District, Punjab. This single fact raises a serious and unavoidable question. If his Pakistan visa explicitly permitted travel only to Lahore, Karachi, and Islamabad, how did he visit Takshashila, which lies outside the Islamabad Capital Territory and squarely within Rawalpindi District?"
Questioning who facilitated the travel to Takshashila, Sarma said that this question gains significance given that the Pakistan Army's General Headquarters is also located in Rawalpindi.
The chief minister asserted that Gogoi did not have a visa to visit Rawalpindi, which is a "restricted, high-security" district, and added, "the circumstances strongly suggest that the visit was facilitated through institutional arrangements that do not require standard civilian visa endorsements."
Under Pakistan's immigration rules, travel beyond visa-designated cities is not permitted without specific authorization, the chief minister said.
Reacting to the charge later, Gogoi told PTI that the CM should use "Google Maps more carefully" to know that Takshashila is a day's trip from Islamabad.
"I made available my original passport to the Government of India after I became an MP in 2014 to get a diplomatic passport. It lies with them, and it contains all the details of my Pakistan visit," he said.
During the press conference, the Congress leader also raised questions about Sarma’s visits to Bangladesh and said, "the chief minister has gone to Bangladesh 10 times, I have gone to (Pakistan) once."
He also asked "who was in Singapore after Zubeen Garg’s death, and whether it was true, as alleged by many, that the government-sponsored programme continued for three days."
Gogoi further clarified that his wife does not hold any active bank account in Pakistan, nor was any information sourced from the IB incorporated in the reports she submitted to her higher-ups after shifting to India.
On Sarma raising suspicion over Gogoi’s questions in Parliament regarding India’s security and defence matters, the Congress leader hit back by asking why an MP from Assam cannot be interested in affairs of the nation.
Gogoi said he has refrained from taking legal recourse against the chief minister as any stay order would have led Sarma to claim that the Congress leader was trying to hide the truth.
He rejected Sarma's claim that the chief minister had not revealed the SIT findings immediately after the report was submitted, as popular singer Zubeen Garg had died soon afterwards, and the people were mourning him.
The Congress leader claimed that Sarma wanted to delay the contents of the SIT report till just before the polls, but was forced to make it public sooner as he was cornered after the opposition party exposed the ‘land grabbing’ by the chief minister and his family.
"He (Sarma) should focus on real issues of the state, like ST status for six communities, rampant drug abuse, and other problems," Gogoi added.