Assam Congress president Gaurav Gogoi on Monday accused Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma of promoting communal hatred and “inciting genocide” against Muslims, demanding that the police take suo motu cognisance of a controversial video allegedly shared by the ruling BJP.
Gogoi was referring to a now-deleted video earlier posted by the Assam BJP on social media platform X, which showed Sarma purportedly 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.”
Addressing a press conference, Gogoi said the video amounted to targeting a specific community and accused the chief minister of using social media to spread “vicious and dangerous” content.
“The Assam CM is inciting genocide against Muslims through his videos. The police must take suo motu cognisance of this act,” Gogoi said.
His remarks come amid an ongoing war of words between the Congress leader and Sarma, who has repeatedly alleged that Gogoi and his family have links with Pakistan.
Rejecting the allegations, Gogoi said his wife had travelled to Pakistan in 2013 for work, and that he accompanied her during a 10-day visit in December that year. He claimed that a Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the matter never questioned him regarding the visit.
“The chief minister sat on the SIT report for six months because it does not support his allegations of my Pakistan links,” Gogoi alleged.
The Congress MP also said he would explore legal options over his minor children being dragged into the controversy by the CM.
Meanwhile, in a post on X, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma demanded a "transparant explanation" from Gogoi over his "visit to Rawalpindi district of Pakistan", asserting that his visa "explicitly permitted travel only to Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad".
Sarma said that under Pakistan's immigration rules, travel beyond visa-designated cities is not permitted without specific authorisation.
Sarma asserted that Gogoi made a disclosure that he was not previously aware of.
"Takshashila (Taxila) is not located in Islamabad, but in Rawalpindi District, Punjab. This single fact raises a serious and unavoidable question.
If his Pakistan visa explicitly permitted travel only to Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad, how did he visit Takshashila, which lies outside the Islamabad Capital Territory and squarely within Rawalpindi District?" he said.
"So the question is simple, factual, and legitimate: Who facilitated his movement to Takshashila despite the apparent absence of visa clearance for Rawalpindi District?" Sarma said.
He further said that this question gains significance given that Pakistan Army's General Headquarters is also located in Rawalpindi. "These facts warrant a clear and transparent explanation," Sarma said.