‘Who Is Your B Team Now?’ Gaurav Gogoi Asks Assam CM

Guwahati: Assam Pradesh Congress Committee president and Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Gaurav Gogoi, on Thursday launched a sharp attack on Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, questioning what he described as the BJP’s “sudden change of stance” towards the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) amid the ongoing contest for the third Rajya Sabha seat from Assam.

In a strongly worded Facebook post, Gogoi asked the Chief Minister to clarify who his “B Team” now was, alleging that the BJP leadership had spent years portraying AIUDF as a communal and dangerous force in Assam politics, only to now consider the party acceptable when its support appeared politically convenient.

Gogoi argued that for years the Chief Minister had urged the people of Assam to remain wary of AIUDF, using the party as a central theme in what he described as a politics of fear. According to him, Sarma repeatedly targeted the minority community in public speeches, using terms such as “Miya” and “outsiders,” while also defending controversial measures like bulldozer drives and eviction campaigns. These actions, Gogoi said, helped normalise a narrative that painted certain sections of society as threats for electoral gains.

“People were divided in the name of votes for years,” Gogoi wrote, questioning why the Chief Minister’s stance appeared to shift overnight when the BJP’s numbers for the third Rajya Sabha seat seemed uncertain.

He further questioned whether the BJP could justify accepting AIUDF’s support for the NDA candidate, Pramod Boro, if the party had indeed been portrayed as a threat to the state for so long.

“If AIUDF is truly dangerous for Assam, why seek its support to push your candidate forward?” Gogoi asked. “And if it is not dangerous, then were the speeches and statements made earlier merely a carefully crafted politics of fear?”

Calling the situation a “classic example of political opportunism,” Gogoi accused the Chief Minister of abandoning ideological claims when power was at stake. He also alleged that while the government publicly criticised a particular community, it was willing to engage with its political representatives behind closed doors when numbers mattered.

The Congress leader said the developments surrounding the Rajya Sabha election had exposed what he called the gap between rhetoric and political practice. “The people of Assam are not blind,” he wrote, adding that both majority and minority communities were closely observing what he termed the government’s “double standards.”

Gogoi concluded by stating that credibility cannot be rebuilt through press conferences, social media posts, or rhetoric once public trust has been eroded.

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