Himanta Biswa Sarma promises revelations on Gaurav Gogoi’s alleged Pakistan links this month

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on January 9 said documents purportedly detailing alleged links between state Congress president Gaurav Gogoi and Pakistan would be made public before the end of January, intensifying an already bitter political row ahead of the Assembly elections.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a government programme at Goreswar, Sarma said officials were finalising the paperwork and that the details would be released “before February”. “The documents relating to Gaurav Gogoi’s Pakistan links are being readied. Our officers are working on it,” he said.

The Chief Minister said the disclosure had been delayed following the death of cultural icon Zubeen Garg in September, without elaborating on how the two were connected.

Sarma also sharpened his attack on the Congress leader over his family’s British citizenship, questioning Gogoi’s suitability for the state’s top post. “Assuming that he wants to become the chief minister of Assam, and he has a wife and two children who are not Indians. How will officers be able to visit his home and speak to him?” he said.

He added that “Assamese people understand all these well and won’t allow such people to enter the ‘bor ghor’,” using the term for a revered place in an apparent reference to the chief minister’s office.

When asked whether the allegations could affect Gogoi’s prospects in the Assembly elections expected in March–April, Sarma framed the issue as one of national security. “Pakistan is our enemy country. The question is not of fighting elections but whether someone can have links with that country,” he said.

The BJP and the state government have repeatedly accused Gogoi over his wife’s alleged connections with Pakistan’s intelligence establishment. An SIT has been constituted to probe claims of interference by Pakistani national Ali Tauqeer Sheikh, who the government says has links with Gogoi’s British wife, Elizabeth Colburn.

Sarma has alleged that Gogoi visited Pakistan on an invitation from the Inter-Services Intelligence and underwent training there, claims the Congress leader has strongly denied. He has also accused Colburn of collecting classified government documents, including Intelligence Bureau reports, on behalf of a Pakistani climate lobby.

Gogoi has dismissed the charges as politically motivated, calling the Chief Minister’s remarks “ridiculous, baseless, insane and nonsense”, and accusing Sarma of behaving like an “IT cell troll” without facts.