Guwahati: The Congress party on Sunday, denounced Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma’s allegations that Lok Sabha MP Gaurav Gogoi is an ISI agent.
The papty claimed that Sarma’s accusations are driven by fear that Gogoi’s rising popularity could lead to a decisive BJP defeat in the 2026 assembly elections.
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Addressing a press conference in Guwahati, senior Congress leader and former Rajya Sabha MP Ripun Bora asserted that CM Sarma is “scared of the popularity of Gogoi,” citing Gogoi’s proven expertise in and out of Parliament, which led to his nomination as the Deputy Leader of the Congress party in Lok Sabha.
“Himanta Biswa Sarma is sure that he will lose the election if Congress announces Gaurav Gogoi as the CM face. Sarma has already considered Gogoi as his contender because of the latter’s acceptance throughout the state,” Bora stated.
He added that Gogoi’s victory in the Jorhat Lok Sabha seat in 2024, despite the BJP’s significant efforts to defeat him, further elevated the MP’s stature.
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Bora accused the Assam CM of trying to “establish Gogoi as an ISI agent only to clear his way for 2026,” but stressed that “nobody is taking him seriously as he has not furnished any evidence in support of his claims.”
Dismissing all allegations, Bora clarified that Gogoi’s British wife, Elizabeth Colburn, works for an international NGO with a network that includes Pakistan.
“She might have visited Pakistan or gotten a salary for her work, what’s the problem with that? Likewise, many Pakistani people are working in India legally,” Bora questioned.
He drew parallels to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, whose wife is Japanese and second child is British, asking, “Does it mean that we should doubt Jaishankar’s patriotism?”
Bora also cited examples of National Security Advisor Ajit Doval’s family members and Indian businessmen with professional or commercial ties to Pakistan.
Bora stressed that Gogoi’s children’s British citizenship is for convenience due to his extensive travel.
“If the Indian government does not have any issue for any of the points raised against Gogoi, then why has Sarma become so restless? These are nothing but illogical,” he asserted.
The Congress leader further claimed that Sarma “raked up this Pakistani issue and tried to entangle Gogoi in it after getting to know the possibility of Gogoi being made the state president of Assam Congress by the central leadership of the party.”
“The oldest party of India does not fear such tactics of Sarma. And the people of Assam will give a befitting reply to him in 2026,” Bora concluded.
The accusations from CM Sarma and the BJP against MP Gogoi have centered on his wife’s alleged connection with Pakistan’s spy agency ISI.
Sarma has claimed that Elizabeth Colburn traveled 19 times between India and Pakistan and alleged that Gogoi himself visited Pakistan at the invitation of its spy agency ISI, undergoing training and working closely with the neighboring nation’s establishment.
Gogoi, in response, has vehemently slammed Sarma’s “ridiculous, baseless, insane and nonsense” accusations, questioning the Chief Minister’s mental state and likening his behavior to an “IT cell troll” for making claims without factual basis.