Guwahati: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Sunday renewed his attack on Congress’ Deputy Leader in the Lok Sabha Gaurav Gogoi over his purported Pakistan links, drawing an angry response from the opposition party.
“We have only one Pakistani in Assam. She is married to a local family in the state and resides in Sukhi district. But she is originally from Pakistan, and has applied for a long-term visa,” the Chief Minister told media persons.
The Chief Minister added that the state government has asked the Union government to clarify whether she should be sent back or not.
“Apart from her, we have no Pakistani nationals in Assam,” the Chief Minister said.
A Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Assam Police is investigating the links between Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi’s wife and Pakistani national and climate policy expert Ali Tauqeer Sheikh. The development comes at a time when Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa and the BJP have been attacking Gogoi over his wife Elizabeth’s alleged connection with Pakistan’s spy agency ISI.
Gaurav Gogoi, however, has called the allegations a BJP ploy ahead of state elections. He called it an attempt by Sarma to deflect attention from the various land scams his family was involved in.
Meanwhile, Congress hit back at the Chief Minister, saying that he (Biswa) has crossed all limits of decency in the wake of the Pahalgam attack.
“One has seen several shameless people in politics, especially in the BJP. Chief Minister of Assam has crossed all limits of decency by using a fragile border situation to settle domestic political scores. @GauravGogoiAsm does not need any certificate of patriotism from a corrupt man. @himantabiswa has a lot to hide and Gaurav has a lot to expose,” Congress, Chairman, Media & Publicity Dept, Pawan Khera wrote on X.
Congress General Secretary (Organisation) K C Venugopal said that the Assam Chief Minister’s ‘pathetic’, ‘below the belt’ comments about Gaurav Gogoi prove that ‘he is unfit to be in public life’.
“He is making totally baseless attacks on Gaurav Gogoi’s family, questioning their loyalty and diverting attention from the scathing corruption allegations that he must answer. Today, against Pakistan, unity is the need of the hour,” he wrote on X.
He added that by frivolously using the Pakistan bogie against an upright public figure like Gogoi, who has been at the forefront of the attack against the Chief Minister, he (Biswa) is only emboldening our rivals as well as confirming that he has no credible response to the mounting evidence of widespread corruption against him.
“Gaurav Gogoi is an honest leader who is taking on the might of a police state, we steadfastly stand by him,” he said.
However, Biswa refused to back down and responded to Venugopal’s X post, saying whatever he has said is not rhetoric but based on the investigation.
“No SiR . Once again I would like to state with complete responsibility and full sense of authority that every word I have said is based entirely on verifiable facts and 100 per cent authentic information. This is not rhetoric. It is a factual assertion made after due diligence and careful investigation,” he wrote on X.
He said that accordingly, he requested the concerned Member of Parliament to respond clearly to the following questions: “Did you or did you not visit Pakistan for a continuous period of 15 days? Kindly confirm or deny unequivocally. 2. What is the citizenship status of your minor children? Are they exclusively Indian citizens, or do they hold any foreign nationality? 3. Is it true that your wife drew a salary from a Pakistan-based NGO, reportedly linked to Pakistani establishments, while she was simultaneously working in a separate NGO registered in India?”
The Chief Minister said that these are legitimate questions arising out of facts in the public interest, adding that there are many more questions that will be raised in due course.
“Our investigation is ongoing, and it is being conducted responsibly, based purely on facts and documents. It has absolutely nothing to do with any below-the-belt political statements or personal attacks,” the Chief Minister said.
(IANS)
