“Beating a hollow drum”: Lurinjyoti Gogoi slams Assam CM's press conference on Gaurav Gogoi's alleged Pakistan link

Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP) president Lurinjyoti Gogoi on Sunday, February 8, dismissed Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma's press conference over Gaurav Gogoi's alleged Pakistan links, as an exercise in political theatrics, stating that it amounted to nothing more than “beating a hollow drum” with no real outcome.

Speaking to media on the sidelines of the AJP’s booth-level convention held at Azad Bhawan in Pathsala, Gogoi asserted that the government’s attempt to refer the matter to the Centre would not yield any tangible results. He accused the ruling dispensation of deflecting attention from substantive issues through what he termed as empty political posturing.

The AJP chief expressed strong disapproval of what he described as the “politics of obscenity,” alleging that certain political narratives were being deliberately centred around Congress leaders Bhupen Bora and Mira Borthakur. Terming such politics disgraceful and condemnable, Gogoi said it reflected a dangerous degradation of democratic discourse in the state.

He also condemned incidents of physical attacks carried out in the name of politics, asserting that violence had no place in a democratic system and warning against the normalisation of such acts.

In a significant political development, Gogoi announced that several senior leaders and ministers who were denied BJP tickets, along with a few leaders from the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), were set to join the Assam Jatiya Parishad in the coming days. Responding to queries from journalists, he named leaders such as Brindaban Goswami, Kamala Kalita, and Utpal Dutta as those likely to align with the AJP.

Providing an update on electoral preparations, Gogoi informed that nearly 85 per cent of seat-sharing negotiations had already been finalised, adding that a clearer political picture would emerge within the next seven days.

Outlining the Opposition’s campaign strategy, the AJP president said issues such as land-related matters involving the Chief Minister’s wife, demands for justice for popular singer Zubeen Garg, and what he termed the “hollowness of development” claims by the ruling party would dominate the Opposition’s election narrative.