“Who Is Himanta Biswa Sarma?”: A Question Gaurav Gogoi Wants Assam to Ask

GUWAHATI: Assam Pradesh Congress Committee President Gaurav Gogoi sounded the Congress’s election bugle in Upper Assam on Thursday, launching a sharp political offensive against Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma while rallying party workers at a divisional meeting in Moran’s Tiloi village market. 

Addressing Congress leaders and grassroots workers from several Upper Assam districts, the APCC president made it clear that the party does not rely on celebrity campaigners. 

“Our workers themselves are our star campaigners,” Gogoi said, stressing that it was the strength of the grassroots that would determine the Congress’s revival in the state. Striking a combative tone, Gogoi said Congress workers—who once led India’s freedom struggle—would never be intimidated by what he described as the “most deceitful Chief Minister in Assam’s history.”

He dismissed the BJP’s slogan of a “Congress-free Assam” as a fantasy and asserted that the Congress was firmly on course to return to power. Pointing to what he called growing enthusiasm within the party, Gogoi said Rajiv Bhawan had recently witnessed an unprecedented rush of ticket aspirants. “Even the people of Assam are surprised by the crowd. After the Hamren meeting yesterday and today’s massive turnout in Moran, BJP leaders have started losing sleep,” he remarked, adding that those who believed the Congress had weakened in Upper Assam were now visibly uneasy.

A recurring theme of Gogoi’s speech was the provocative question, “Who is Himanta Biswa Sarma?”—a slogan he urged Congress workers to take to every village. According to Gogoi, even ordinary citizens are now asking the same question after watching the Chief Minister’s conduct.

“This time, the people of Assam will make it clear that there is no king here. The real rulers of Assam are its people,” he said.

Elaborating on his charge, Gogoi accused Himanta Biswa Sarma of betraying former Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, under whose leadership he rose in politics. He also alleged deep contradictions in the government’s actions on land issues, claiming that while land dealers were arrested overnight, the entire land business was now being controlled from the Chief Minister’s own residence.

Gogoi also claimed that tens of thousands bighas of land issues related to tribals and indigenous peoples were given to corporate houses without their consent. He alleged that leaders and allies of the BJP were indulging in encroachment of tribal land, PGR-VGR land in many places like Karbi Anglong and Rabha Hasong. He also cited unkept promises, like according waiting list benefits to six communities even by the year end, as another instance of political deceit.

Countering the BJP’s anti-Bangladeshi rhetoric, Gogoi asked how many Bangladeshis the BJP had deported during its 10-year rule. "Deportations (under the BJP) have been far less than in UPA and that goes to show you how rhetoric is completely removed from reality,” he said, while charging the current government of reneging on critical commitments including one of imposing NRC, Clause 6 and Assam Accord. Stating that the state was sinking, particularly in the economic sectors, he complained about burgeoning debt burden on Assam where he alleged that loans amounting to ₹1.5 lakh crore had been taken by the government.

He said ordinary people were now paying the price through higher land revenue, toll charges, and increased electricity tariffs. Despite this, he alleged, the government was shutting down schools while liquor shops were opening across villages. In one of his strongest remarks, Gogoi warned that if Himanta Biswa Sarma returned as Chief Minister, Assam would be left without government schools and vacant land, replaced instead by liquor outlets in every locality.

He accused the Chief Minister of enriching his own family while pushing society’s most vulnerable towards addiction. Other Congress leaders echoed similar sentiments. AICC secretary in charge of Assam, Vikas Upadhyay, outlined organisational strategies for the upcoming elections, while election observer Bandhu Tirkey urged workers to fight fearlessly against what he termed BJP misrule.

Meanwhile, former APCC president Bhupen Bora framed the coming election as a decisive battle, reminding workers of the party’s resurgence under Tarun Gogoi in the early 2000s when Congress had been written off politically. Leader of Opposition Debabrata Saikia said Congress workers would not bow to intimidation and accused the BJP of surviving on false promises and flawed economic policies. 

Also Read:Congress Warns of Statewide Agitation Over ‘SR Manipulation’, Alleges BJP-Election Commission Nexus in Assam