Stop misleading Assam: Congress attacks Himanta over Gogoi remarks

New Delhi, Feb 9 (IANS) The Congress on Monday escalated its attack on Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, accusing him of making baseless allegations for political mileage and questioning the functioning of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) constituted by the Assam government.

Reacting to Sarma’s remarks, Congress MP Imran Pratapgarhi questioned whether the SIT was conducting a serious investigation or merely holding press briefings.

“What is the SIT actually doing? Will it only hold press conferences, or if there is evidence, will it present it?” he asked, alleging that the exchange of accusations was aimed solely at electoral gains.

He further added, “When he was in the Congress, the language used then is there for the entire country to see, and now that he is with the BJP, the language being used today is also before the nation. Efforts to provoke and mislead Assam should stop. The Assam Chief Minister knows very well that in the coming time, the Congress is going to remove him from power, and Gaurav Gogoi is the biggest political threat to him.”

Pratapgarhi also alleged selective media scrutiny, claiming the Chief Minister’s remarks had not received due attention. “If a Chief Minister from the Opposition had used such language, the media would have raised the issue by now. But surprisingly, not a single channel has discussed on prime time how the language used by a state Chief Minister is fascist and dictatorial,” he said.

Congress MP Rajeev Shukla, meanwhile, dismissed the allegations as completely false, strongly defending Gaurav Gogoi and his family. “Gaurav Gogoi’s father served as Assam Chief Minister for 15 years. They are all nationalists. It is wrong to level such accusations against them,” Shukla said.

The Congress reaction came after Sarma launched a fresh political attack on Lok Sabha MP Gaurav Gogoi over the British citizenship of his two children.

Sarma said the issue raised serious questions about the personal choices of a public representative, drawing a comparison with Congress leader Sonia Gandhi and alleging inconsistencies in earlier statements on the matter.

The Chief Minister also linked the issue to an ongoing SIT probe and made allegations regarding Gogoi’s 2013 visit to Pakistan, claiming it raised national security concerns.

Meanwhile, Gogoi has strongly refuted the allegations, calling the SIT probe politically motivated and aimed at diverting attention from governance failures. He has said he has full faith in constitutional institutions and will cooperate with any lawful investigation, while cautioning against the alleged misuse of agencies for political purposes.

–IANS

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