Gaurav Gogoi questions ‘value’ of CM’s India-Pakistan jibe over Philippines panel nomination

Gaurav Gogoi on February 25 hit back at Himanta Biswa Sarma over his remark that the Congress leader should have been assigned to an “India-Pakistan” parliamentary group instead of heading the India-Philippines panel, questioning the relevance of the chief minister’s comments.

The exchange follows the constitution of Parliamentary Friendship Groups for over 60 countries by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Monday. Gogoi, the Jorhat MP and Congress deputy leader in the Lok Sabha, was appointed president of the India-Philippines Parliamentary Friendship Group.

Responding to media queries a day after Sarma’s remarks, Gogoi said the appointment was made by the Speaker of the Lok Sabha and not by the chief minister. “What role does the CM have in this matter? What is the value of his remarks? Once the Speaker of the Lok Sabha has assigned a responsibility within the House, I do not understand the relevance of comments made by Sarma,” he said.

Gogoi added that he was formally informed of the responsibility through an official communication issued by the Speaker. Expressing gratitude to the people of Jorhat and Assam for their support in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, he said their mandate had enabled him to shoulder the new responsibility.

The controversy began after Sarma suggested that Gogoi should have been placed in an “India-Pakistan” group, in an apparent reference to earlier allegations by the chief minister that the Congress leader had links with Pakistan.

For over a year, Sarma and the Bharatiya Janata Party have targeted Gogoi and his British wife, Elizabeth Colburn, alleging links with Pakistan’s spy agency ISI. On February 8, the chief minister had claimed at a press conference that Gogoi, Colburn and Pakistani national Ali Tauqeer Sheikh shared a “deeper connection” and that sensitive information from the Intelligence Bureau had been passed to the neighbouring country.

Gogoi has consistently denied the allegations, describing them as “most mindless and bogus” and calling Sarma’s February 8 press conference “worse than C-grade cinema” and a “super flop”.