Gaurav Gogoi accuses Himanta Biswa Sarma of inciting genocide

Assam Congress president Gaurav Gogoi has accused Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma of inciting genocide against Muslims through a deleted video and hate speeches. He urged police to take suo motu action and also addressed allegations about his family’s links to Pakistan

Guwahati: Assam Congress president Gaurav Gogoi on Monday accused Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma of “inciting genocide” against Muslims through his videos, and urged police to take suo motu cognisance.

Gogoi was alluding to a now-deleted video, shared by the state BJP on X, which showed Sarma purportedly taking aim with a rifle and firing a shot at two people, one wearing a skull cap and the other with a beard, with “point-blank shot” as the caption.

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“The Assam CM is inciting genocide against Muslims through his videos… Police must take suo motu cognisance of Sarma targeting a particular community, and sharing vicious social media videos,” Gogoi told a press conference.

Talking to PTI after the press meet, Gogoi added, “He (Sarma) has distributed a video that he later deleted, which clearly showed how he is promoting genocide of Muslims.” He alleged that Sarma made “hate speeches” against a minority community and the matter was taken to court, referring to recent statements by the chief minister against ‘Miyas’ that the community will continue facing “trouble” till he is in power.

‘Miya’ is originally a pejorative term used for Bengali-speaking Muslims in Assam and non-Bengali speaking people generally identify them as Bangladeshi immigrants. In recent years, activists from the community have started adopting this term as a gesture of defiance.

“The CM continues to show why he is unfit to occupy this chair. There have been several instances in the recent past where he has committed crimes for which he should be removed from the chair. He should resign,” the Congress leader asserted.

At the press conference, Gogoi accused Sarma of pretending to be “secular” when he was in the Congress. Sarma had switched over to the BJP in August 2015.

“The chief minister talks about Hindus so much now. If he is actually their champion, let him stop the cow syndicate within 24 hours,” Gogoi said, reiterating the charge by the Congress about the ruling BJP-led dispensation operating various illegal syndicates.

The Congress MP’s comments also came amid a verbal duel with Sarma, who has been alleging that Gogoi and his family have Pakistani links.

Gogoi said he would also explore legal options over his minor children being dragged into the controversy by the CM.

The Congress leader claimed that his wife had visited Pakistan for a work-related purpose in 2013, and that he had accompanied her on a 10-day trip to the neighbouring country in December that year.

“The SIT never questioned me about my 2013 visit to Pakistan for 10 days. The Assam CM sat over the SIT report for six months, as it has nothing to prove his allegations of my Pakistan links,” Gogoi asserted.