Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Saturday (May 17, 2025) questioned the inclusion of Jorhat MP Gaurav Gogoi in a Congress list of leaders for delegations to be sent abroad to explain India’s position on terrorism from Pakistan.
The Centre plans to send multiple and multi-party delegations to various countries to brief them about Pakistan’s role in cross-border terrorism. The exercise is related to the April 22 terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam and the Operation Sindoor strikes on terror bases deep inside Pakistan.
On Friday, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju spoke with Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, to seek the names of four MPs to be included in the delegations.
Taking to X, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said Mr Gandhi wrote to Mr Rijiju, giving the names of Mr Gogoi, former Union Minister Anand Sharma, Rajya Sabha member Syed Naseer Hussain, and Lok Sabha member Raja Brar.
Reacting to Mr Ramesh’s post, the Assam Chief Minister posted on X: “One of the MPs named in the list [from Assam] has not denied his prolonged stay in Pakistan—reportedly for two weeks—and credible documents show that his wife was drawing salary from a Pakistan-based NGO while working in India.”
“In the interest of national security and beyond partisan politics, I urge leader of opposition Sri Rahul Gandhi not to include this individual in such a sensitive and strategic assignment,” he wrote.
The Chief Minister had earlier accused Mr Gogoi of meeting a Pakistan Army officer during his visit to the neighbouring country. He also claimed that the Congress MP took 90 boys and girls to the Pakistani Embassy in New Delhi for “radicalisation”.
Mr Gogoi was also accused of raising sensitive questions on defence matters in Parliament after his marriage to Elizabeth Colburn, a British national.
A special investigation team of the Assam Police is probing the charges. The team is expected to submit its report in September.
Published – May 17, 2025 02:49 pm IST
