GUWAHATI/NEW DELHI: The row over alleged Pakistani links of Gaurav Gogoi‘s wife escalated on Sunday with the Congress MP saying he would initiate legal proceedings in the matter and Assam govt asking state police to register a case against Ali Tauqeer Sheikh, an advisor of the Pakistan Planning Commission, for his alleged attempts to interfere in domestic matters of the state.
Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma had earlier said a police case was likely to be registered to probe the allegations of Pakistani links of Gogoi’s wife Elizabeth Colburn, who is a British national, but the cabinet on Sunday refrained from ordering a case against her.
Apart from his engagement with the Pakistani govt, Sheikh also founded Lead Pakistan, a non-profit organisation working on climate change, Sarma said, claiming that Elizabeth was an integral part of Lead Pakistan during her time in Islamabad. tnn
Cong accuses Assam govt, BJP of launching anti-Gogoi smear campaign, vows legal step
In recent days, multiple news reports, social media posts, and other information in the public domain have surfaced regarding certain comments made by Pakistani national Ali Tauqeer Sheikh aimed at disrupting communal harmony in Assam,” Himanta Biswa Sarma told the media.
He added that a perusal of his social media activity included exhaustive commentary on India’s internal affairs and parliamentary matters, raising serious concerns about Sheikh’s intention to compromise and damage India’s interests.
Responding to BJP’s allegations, Congress’s Jairam Ramesh said, ” Assam CM and BJP have begun an atrocious smear campaign targeting my colleague Gaurav Gogoi. This is character assassination of the worst type. Legal action is being initiated right away.”
Ramesh alleged that the smear campaign was because Gogoi won the Jorhat Lok Sabha seat in 2024 in spite of the Assam chief minister and other ministers camping in Jorhat and campaigning against him. “It is also because the Jorhat MP has been in the forefront, revealing the blatant corruption and black deeds of the Assam CM,” he added.
Sarma has been targeting Gogoi over the past few days and alleged that the former had ISI links. He has accused Gogoi of “leading young individuals to the Pakistan embassy for brainwashing and radicalisation”, and also questioned his wife’s refusal to take Indian citizenship for the past 12 years.
He also alleged that Gogoi had raised questions in Parliament on sensitive defence matters after his marriage with the British citizen, a charge termed by the opposition leader as “false accusation”.
