Guwahati: Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi on Wednesday rejected Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma’s allegations linking his wife, Elizabeth Colburn, to Pakistan’s intelligence agency, the ISI, calling the accusations politically motivated and baseless.
Responding to a journalist’s question, Gogoi accused the ruling BJP of weaponizing defamation as a political strategy. “When an entire party builds its politics on defamation, how many defamation cases can one possibly file? Their whole machinery survives on ruining reputations. If I file one case today, they’ll hand me two more reasons tomorrow,” he said.
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Gogoi described the allegations as absurd and compared them to the plot of a “C-grade Bollywood movie,” ridiculing the Chief Minister’s statement about revealing more details on September 10.
Breaking his silence on the controversy for the first time, Gogoi clarified that his wife, a public policy expert, had spent one year in Pakistan in 2013 while working on a climate change project for South Asia. “About 14–15 years ago, my wife joined a regional initiative on climate issues. She lived in Pakistan for a year as part of that project, returned to India in 2012–13, and has worked here ever since. In 2015, she accepted a new position,” he explained.
Gogoi acknowledged accompanying his wife during her assignment in 2013 but firmly denied any wrongdoing.
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He challenged the Assam government and central authorities, questioning why they remained silent for over a decade if they believed any illegal activity had occurred.
“If my wife or I committed any illegal act during that trip, then what has the government, both at the state and central levels, been doing for the past 11–12 years? These agencies are under their control,” he said.
He highlighted the extensive scrutiny involved in cross-border travel. “Crossing borders isn’t a casual affair. Immigration authorities thoroughly document, vet, and track every traveler. These are standard international procedures,” Gogoi added.
Gogoi claimed the timing of the accusations was politically driven, aimed at diverting attention from pressing issues in Assam. “These allegations are part of a larger election narrative that the Chief Minister is trying to construct, and they serve as nothing more than a distraction,” he asserted.
As a vocal Opposition leader, Gogoi said he has never hidden any part of his background. “I speak freely in Parliament without fear. My entire professional background, my biodata, everything is available in the public domain. So what has this government done over the last decade?” he added
In response, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma took to X (formerly Twitter), stating, “The Government of Assam, committed to transparency and accountability, will make everything public on 10th September, once the Special Investigation Team (SIT) concludes its comprehensive inquiry.”