Gaurav Gogoi in Parl panel with Philippnines ‘by mistake’, should have been in one with Pak: Himanta

Himanta Biswa Sarma took a swipe at Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi, saying he should have been assigned to an “India-Pakistan” parliamentary group instead of the India-Philippines panel, in an apparent continuation of his earlier allegation branding the opposition leader a “Pakistani agent”.

Reacting to Gogoi’s nomination as head of the India-Philippines Parliamentary Friendship Group, Sarma told reporters on the sidelines of an official event at Mariani in Jorhat district that the Congress leader had been placed in the wrong group. “He should have been given India-Pakistan group. By mistake he was given the India-Philippines group. It would have worked well,” the chief minister remarked.

The Parliamentary Friendship Groups, comprising members from across parties and covering over 60 countries, were constituted on Monday by Om Birla. Gogoi, who represents Jorhat in the Lok Sabha and serves as the Congress’ deputy leader in the Lower House, was named head of the panel for the Philippines.

The Indian National Congress in Assam hit back, stating that the nomination of its state president to lead the India-Philippines Parliamentary Friendship Group comes at a time when the chief minister is allegedly running a “malicious campaign” against him. In a post on X, the party accused Sarma of previously labelling Gogoi a “Pakistani agent” and claimed the allegation had already been undermined during the chief minister’s February 8 press conference. The party added that the people of Assam would respond in due course.

The controversy unfolds against the backdrop of the approaching Assam Assembly elections. The chief minister and the Bharatiya Janata Party have alleged links between Gogoi and Pakistan through his British wife, Elizabeth Colburn.

The Assam government had earlier constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe alleged interference by Pakistani national Ali Tauqeer Sheikh, who was claimed to have links with Colburn, in India’s internal affairs. Based on the SIT findings, Sarma had alleged at a press conference on February 8 that Gogoi, Colburn and Sheikh shared a “deeper connection” and that sensitive information from the Intelligence Bureau had been clandestinely passed to Pakistan.

The state Cabinet has since decided to forward the case and the SIT report to the Ministry of Home Affairs for further investigation.

Gogoi has strongly denied the allegations, describing claims of Pakistani links as “most mindless and bogus” and characterising Sarma’s February 8 press conference as “worse than C-grade cinema” and a “super flop”.