“Tujhe Pata Hai Mera Baap Kaun?” Gaurav Gogoi recalls only time he used his father’s name

In a refreshingly candid conversation with India Today journalist Preeti Choudhry on her exclusive podcast, Congress MP from Assam, Gaurav Gogoi, opened up about growing up in a political household, the shadow of his father Tarun Gogoi’s legacy, and a rare moment when he invoked his father’s name—but only once, and unsuccessfully.

Speaking on the podcast, Gogoi recalled a moment from his college days in Delhi when he was stopped by a traffic policeman. “You know the Delhi phrase, ‘Tujhe pata hai mera baap kaun hai?’ I used it once. But it didn’t work—because I was from Assam,” he said, half-joking, half-serious. He pointed out that in Delhi, the name didn’t carry the same weight. “People in Delhi don’t really know where the North East is. If I was from Delhi, maybe there would’ve been some ‘respect’.”

Despite being the son of one of Assam’s tallest political figures—three-time Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi—Gaurav maintained that he has consciously avoided leveraging his father’s identity. “People who know me know I’ve never fronted my father’s background,” he said, citing how he wanted to be judged on his own merit rather than his lineage.

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“There’s a different kind of attention or treatment that comes when people find out who your father is. So I would just say he works in government,” Gogoi added. “And when people would press to know more, I would block the question. I wanted to create my own identity.”

The podcast also touched upon Delhi’s elite culture, where children of bureaucrats and politicians are often labelled as “baba log”—a reference to privilege. Yet Gogoi’s experience was different. “I used to naively say ‘No, I don’t know him’ when people brought up my dad, because I genuinely wanted to keep that separation.”

Through this conversation, Gaurav Gogoi emphasised that while he carries the legacy of a respected leader, he prefers to walk his own path—one less influenced by name, and more defined by action.