GUWAHATI: His name means pride, but Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi is not exactly making his father, Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi or the Congress proud. Blame it on his tendency to, as party insiders say, bite off more than he can chew.
Illegal migration of people from Bangladesh is a serious issue in Assam that threatens to alter the state’s demography. Gogoi junior, however, recently said while visiting Kaziranga district that “there are no Bangladeshis in Assam”. His statement was in contrast to his father’s assertion that the India-Bangladesh land-swap deal will curb illegal migration.
“Infiltration of foreigners is a very serious issue. I am sure the land deal with Bangladesh will help solve the problem to some extent,” Tarun Gogoi had said while defending the deal amid criticism by Opposition parties, various groups and organisations that hold him solely responsible for Assam parting away with its land.
Gaurav’s statement had irked Opposition parties as well as the Congress. “With elections round the corner, we would want our colleagues to sew their mouth,” former minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had told reporters. Gaurav is a Lok Sabha member from Kaliabor.
As the Opposition was going hammer and tongs at him, Gaurav said that he had made the statement “in context of a court case filed by a BJP leader against indigenous tribals and people belonging to the tea tribe community, who are living within the vicinity of the Kaziranga National Park”.
“There is a government proceeding undergoing to detect the foreigners. If there is somebody who has come to Assam from Bangladesh illegally, we want the procedures to follow… the chief minister of Assam raised the point prior to the prime minister’s visit to Bangladesh that he must ensure deportation of Bangladeshis, if there are any. The government of Bangladesh must be open to taking them back,” Gaurav had said.
Just days ahead of his controversial comment, Gaurav had courted a controversy by sitting in the CM’s chair, which was slammed by the Opposition parties. Tarun had downplayed the incident by saying “Gaurav is a small boy”. But the opposition parties reminded him that at his son’s age, Prafulla Kumar Mahanta had donned the mantle of chief minister.
Gaurav defended his action saying he wanted to be “hospitable”. “It was in the waiting room. To ensure that maximum party workers could sit, I had occupied it (CM’s chair) momentarily. There was no larger intention. I only wanted to be hospitable to people who came from far away,” he said.
“The chief minister is an extremely senior and well respected person who has been elected by the people of Assam for three consecutive terms. His stature is so big that we all respect him and through my action I didn’t mean to bring any form of disrespect,” he said. He asked the Opposition parties to substantiate their criticism of him with facts, saying that even in Delhi, the attacks have been always personal and without any substance.
Asked if his actions and utterances will affect the Congress in next year’s Assembly elections, he said the people will vote for stability, peace and development. “They have seen these were the three factors which the Congress party brought in the last three terms. They will continue to vote for us and support us,” he said.
An engineer, 33-year-old Gaurav studied at the St Columba’s School in Delhi and has a degree in public administration from New York University.