Guwahati: Assam Congress president Gaurav Gogoi on February 9 accused Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma of “inciting genocide” against Muslims and called on the police to take suo motu cognisance of the matter.
Addressing a press conference, Gogoi referred to a video briefly posted on X by the State BJP and later deleted. The clip purportedly showed the Chief Minister aiming a rifle and firing at two individuals — one wearing a skull cap and the other sporting a beard, accompanied by the caption “point-blank shot”.
“The Assam Chief Minister is inciting genocide against Muslims through such videos,” Gogoi said, urging the police to act on their own and examine what he described as the deliberate targeting of a particular community through “vicious social media content”.
His remarks came against the backdrop of an escalating war of words between the Congress leader and the Chief Minister, who has repeatedly alleged that Gogoi and members of his family have links with Pakistan. Rejecting the accusations, Gogoi said he was weighing legal options after his minor children were dragged into the controversy.
Seeking to clarify the allegations, Gogoi said his wife had travelled to Pakistan for professional reasons in 2013 and that he had accompanied her during a 10-day visit in December that year. He also questioned the functioning of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) constituted to probe the matter.
“The SIT never questioned me about my 10-day visit to Pakistan in 2013,” Gogoi said, adding that the Chief Minister had “sat over the SIT report for six months” as it failed to substantiate claims of his alleged links with Pakistan.
Gogoi maintained that the issue was not about personal attacks but about the conduct expected of a constitutional authority, stressing that law enforcement agencies must act when content — even symbolically, targets a specific community.