"Digitally silent for 10 days": Assam CM questions Gaurav Gogoi’s 'low profile' Pakistan visit

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Sunday, February 8, made a series of serious allegations regarding alleged undisclosed visits to Pakistan by Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi, linking them to Pakistani national Ali Tauqeer Sheikh and Gogoi’s wife, Elizabeth Gogoi. The Chief Minister demanded transparency from the Congress leader, stating that certain details surrounding the visits raise “grave national security concerns.”

Addressing the media, Sarma claimed that Elizabeth Gogoi had visited Pakistan multiple times, three times before her marriage and nine times after, while also alleging that Gaurav Gogoi himself undertook a “highly confidential” 10-day visit to Pakistan in December 2013.

According to Sarma, Gogoi travelled to Pakistan from December 14 to December 24, 2013, at a time when he was not an elected Member of Parliament but a private citizen. The Chief Minister alleged that Gogoi entered Pakistan via the Attari border to keep the visit low-profile and stayed there despite earlier claims that his wife was working in Pakistan.

Sarma further stated that Elizabeth Gogoi had returned to India on June 1, 2012, and had joined LEAD India in Delhi. He also alleged that both Gaurav and Elizabeth Gogoi travelled together on December 15, 2013, on a visa issued for Lahore.

The Assam CM claimed that a letter from Pakistan’s Interior Ministry had granted Gogoi permission to visit not only Lahore but also Islamabad and Karachi, and demanded that the Congress MP make the document public.

Pointing to what he termed “suspicious digital behaviour,” Sarma alleged that Gogoi remained completely inactive on social media during the 10-day period of his Pakistan visit, despite being regularly active online before December 13 and resuming activity only on December 25.

“He was completely out of radar during those ten days,” Sarma said, adding that Gogoi’s conduct and political approach underwent a marked change after the visit. “We suspect that during those ten days, he was subjected to some form of training,” the Chief Minister alleged, without providing evidence.

Sarma also highlighted that at the time of the visit, Gogoi’s father was serving as the Chief Minister of Assam, and Gaurav Gogoi was residing at the official residence, underscoring the sensitivity of the matter.