Himanta flags Pak envoy’s 2015 event in new attack on Gaurav Gogoi

Sarma sought to link the MP’s marriage to a British citizen, to what he described as “a growing focus on sensitive defence matters” in parliamentary questions

GUWAHATI: Continuing the back and forth with Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi, Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Thursday criticised the Jorhat Lok Sabha MP for participating in an open meeting with Pakistan high commissioner Abdul Basit in 2015.

The two politicians have been targeting each other following Himanta Biswa Sarma’s exit from the Congress in 2015 when the then chief minister Tarun Gogoi started promoting his son Gaurav as his political heir. (@himantabiswa)

Sarma also sought to link the MP’s marriage to a British citizen, to what he described as “a growing focus on sensitive defence matters” in his parliamentary questions. The chief minister did not name Gogoi in his post on X, but put a photo in which Gogoi sat next to Basit at an event.

The two politicians have been targeting each other following Sarma’s exit from the Congress in 2015 when then chief minister Tarun Gogoi started promoting his son Gaurav Gogoi as his political heir.

In 2024, Sarma had extensively campaigned in Jorhat against Gaurav Gogoi, who eventually won the seat.

Gogoi said Sarma’s attacks were laughable and “only to divert attention” from the allegations against Sarma.

In his post on X, Sarma said: “In 2015, the Pakistani High Commissioner to India, Mr. Abdul Basit, invited a first-term Member of Parliament (MP) and his startup, Policy for Youth, to discuss India-Pakistan relations at the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi…”

Soon after, an article was published in a newspaper criticising the Border Security Force’s handling of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants, he said.

Sarma added that “an examination of Gogoi’s parliamentary questions revealed a growing focus on sensitive defense matters, including inquiries about Coast Guard radar installations, India’s arms factories, aeronautical defense, transit routes for trade with Iran, Kashmiri students, and alleged attacks on churches — marking a noticeable shift in his areas of interest.”

“Interestingly, these developments occurred immediately after his marriage to a British citizen with a professional background that raises further questions. Before their marriage, she had worked for an American senator known for close ties with the Pakistani establishment and later spent time in Pakistan, employed by an organization widely believed to be a front for the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). The timing of these events adds another layer of intrigue to the MP’s evolving political stance and actions,” Sarma said in the same post.

On Wednesday, Sarma, who is on a visit to Singapore, posted several messages on X alluding to Gogoi and his wife and questioned why she hadn’t taken Indian citizenship so far.

In his response, Gogoi wondered what the chief minister was really worried about and recalled that he had launched similar personal attacks at him and his family in the run-up to last year’s Lok Sabha election when Gogoi won the Jorhat seat.

“If my wife is a Pakistani agent, then I am an Indian agent. If she is an ISI agent, then I am a RAW agent. People are knowledgeable enough to know the politics behind such statements (of the BJP). I think the people of Assam will give a proper response (to BJP) in the next assembly polls (due in 2026),” Gogoi told reporters.