Himanta claims senior Hindu Congress leader threatened to quit over ‘humiliation’ by Gaurav Gogoi

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on February 17 made a sensational claim alleging deep internal rifts within the Assam Pradesh Congress Committee, stating that two senior Hindu leaders of the party had sharply criticised APCC chief Gaurav Gogoi at the residence of state Congress president Bhupen Kumar Borah.

Quoting what he described as a private exchange, Sarma claimed the two leaders told Gogoi: “You have become a leader by parachute landing.” Translating the Assamese remark, the Chief Minister said they alleged that Gogoi entered the Congress leadership without grassroots struggle, unlike others who had risen through the ranks of the NSUI and Youth Congress.

According to Sarma, one of the leaders purportedly told Gogoi that his own father had died when he was young and that he had worked tirelessly in the NSUI and Youth Congress to reach his current position. The leader allegedly warned Gogoi not to insult or humiliate him, saying that if such treatment continued, he too would consider leaving the party. 

“You have become a leader with the help of a parachute,” the Chief Minister quoted the Congress leader as saying.

Sarma further claimed that another senior Hindu leader had told Borah that he had been fighting for the party because of Borah’s presence, but after Borah’s exit, he was reconsidering whether to even contest elections.

The Chief Minister asserted that only three prominent Hindu leaders now remain in the Congress in Assam, indirectly referring to Pradyut Bordoloi, Debabrata Saikia and Ripun Bora.

Recalling past political developments, Sarma said that when he and others had described Gogoi as a “parachute” entrant into the Congress in 2012 and refused to “surrender” to him, sections of the media had labelled them as the “dada brigade.”

The Congress party has not issued any immediate response to the Chief Minister’s allegations.