GUWAHATI
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma stepped up his attack on Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi on Monday , claiming he met a Pakistani Army official during his visit to Pakistan.
The Chief Minister has been targeting Mr. Gogoi, who represents eastern Assam’s Jorhat Lok Sabha constituency, and his British wife, Elizabeth Colburn Gogoi, since February, alleging that Ms. Colburn Gogoi worked for an organisation with links to the Inter-Services Intelligence, the Pakistani spy agency.
“Not only did he [Mr. Gogoi] go to Pakistan, he also met an official of Pakistan’s Army,” Mr. Sarma told the media during the last day of campaigning for the second and final phase of panchayat elections in the State.
“It’s (the Pakistan visit) a big crime. There will be a big action. I will take action myself,” he said.
“If we can put Aminul Islam (MLA of All India United Democratic Front) behind bars for praising Pakistan, the action against somebody who visited Pakistan will definitely be big,” the Chief Minister added.
He said action would be taken against the Congress MP after the evidence arrived from Pakistan and England. He also said he would punish Pakistan’s sympathisers in Assam while Prime Minister Narendra Modi punished Pakistanis.
The controversy surrounding the Gogoi couple arose in February when the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) national spokesperson, Gaurav Bhatia, said: “…deputy leader of Opposition, Gaurav Gogoi’s wife has links with Pakistan and the ISI… His wife, Elizabeth Colburn, has links with Ali Tauqeer Sheikh, who happens to be a Pakistan Planning Commission advisor. This is a serious issue which poses a threat to national security.”
Mr. Sarma later said the Pakistani High Commissioner to India, Abdul Basit, invited Mr. Gogoi, then a first-time MP, in 2015 to discuss India-Pakistan relations at the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi. He also said Mr. Gogoi had raised sensitive questions on defence matters in the Parliament after his marriage to Ms. Colburn Gogoi.
The Assam police registered a case against Mr. Sheikh and unknown others for their alleged anti-India activities. The Congress MP has maintained that he was open to any probe by a Special Investigation Team handling the case.
Women’s panel knocked
Mr. Gogoi hit back at the Chief Minister for his “disgraceful” remark about job-seeking women in Assam.
He said the Chief Minister’s allegation at a political rally that the women of Assam would compromise to secure a job marked a new low for the political discourse in Assam. “Assamese women are highly respected and empowered in our society. From the days of the freedom struggle to the present day, women have done our society proud,” he said.
“The Chief Minister should be mature enough to apologise,” the MP said.
Last week, the Congress set Mr. Sarma a 24-hour deadline to apologise for saying Assam’s women chose the “wrong path” to secure government jobs during the Congress’s rule.
Meanwhile, Mira Borthakur Goswami, president of the Assam Pradesh Mahila Congress, filed a complaint with the Assam State Women’s Commission against Mr. Sarma’s “derogatory remarks on Assamese women” who secured jobs during the Congress government in the State (2001-2016). She also sought action from the National Commission for Women against the Chief Minister for claiming that women in Assam secured government jobs by trading their virginity.
