Elizabeth Gogoi has become a pawn in the fight between Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and his bete noire, Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi.
First, BJP national spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia on Wednesday alleged that Elizabeth, a British citizen who is Gogoi’s wife, has links with Pakistan and its Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). Sarma took the attack further with a series of posts on X on Thursday.
Without mentioning the names of the Gogoi couple, he said she had worked for an American senator known for close ties with the Pakistani establishment and later spent time in Pakistan, employed by an organization widely believed to be a front for the ISI.
Sarma mentioned that Pakistani High Commissioner to India, Abdul Basit, had invited Gogoi in 2015, then a first-time MP, and his startup, Policy for Youth, to discuss India-Pakistan relations at the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi. He also said Gogoi raised sensitive questions on defence matters in Parliament after his marriage to Elizabeth.
Observers saw politics in Sarma’s attack on the Congress MP considering that Assam will go to the polls early next year. There is a perception that the BJP, which has been in power in the state since 2016, has a serious problem in upper Assam. The party got a whiff of it when it could not defeat Gogoi in the Jorhat seat despite going all guns blazing in last year’s Lok Sabha elections.
Gogoi had polled more votes than his BJP opponent in nine of the ten Assembly segments. The BJP fears his victory might work in the Congress’ favour in upper Assam in the Assembly elections.
The Assam polls are far away but Sarma has already started the groundwork with increased focus on upper Assam which accounts for one-fourth of the state’s Assembly seats. First, he tried to warm up to the Ahom community by being instrumental in the appointment of an Ahom, Pabitra Margherita, as the junior external affairs minister to counter another Ahom, Gaurav Gogoi. Ahoms have a large population in upper and northern Assam.
Last month, Sarma inaugurated the second chief minister’s secretariat in Dibrugarh, an important town in upper Assam. The government said it would ensure continuous monitoring of government schemes and projects. However, observers felt it was to warm up voters.
Sarma and Gogoi have been long-time political foes. Sarma fell out with three-time former Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi and joined the BJP in 2015. Observers say Gaurav Gogoi, son of Tarun Gogoi, was the reason. Sarma’s influence in the Congress started depleting after Gogoi junior joined the party.
Gaurav Gogoi met Elizabeth in the US and married her in 2013 in New Delhi. Elizabeth is a British citizen who earlier worked for the Climate and Development Knowledge Network.
