APCC president and Lok Sabha MP Gaurav Gogoi on Sunday dismissed Chief Minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma’s press conference on his alleged Pakistan links as a “super flop show,” questioning why the Chief Minister remained silent for six months if the matter was truly serious.
Gogoi made the remarks while speaking to the media at Sipajhar in Darrang district, where his ongoing mobile outreach programme, the Samay Paribortanor Jatra (Journey for Change), reached on the day.
Reacting to allegations that he had stayed in Pakistan for ten days and that his wife, Elizabeth Colburn Gogoi, had received a salary from a Pakistani organisation, Gogoi said the Chief Minister failed to convince even journalists during his nearly two-and-a-half-hour press briefing.
“He tried his best to sell a flop cinema to the public, but he could not even convince the reporters present there. I had already said it would be a flop show, but it turned out to be a super flop show,” Gogoi said.
Questioning the timing of the disclosures, Gogoi said the Chief Minister had earlier claimed that the SIT findings would be made public on September 10, 2025. “If the issue was so serious, what stopped him from acting in the last six months? Now the election is approaching, and suddenly everything is being revealed,” he said.
He alleged that the Congress party’s outreach campaign had gained public support after raising issues related to alleged ownership of around 12,000 bighas of land. According to Gogoi, the three-day rally successfully highlighted land-related concerns, while the Chief Minister’s narrative failed to gain traction.
“The people of Assam want change, and that desire is clearly visible. Our journey has hit its target, while his cinema has flopped,” Gogoi added.
Later, in a post on X, Gogoi challenged the Chief Minister to explain how his family acquired nearly 12,000 bighas, or about 4,000 acres, of prime land across Assam. He said that if Congress comes to power, such land would be reclaimed and distributed among the poor and landless.
However, Gogoi declined to respond when reporters sought details about his ten-day stay in Pakistan or his wife’s alleged salary from a Pakistani agency.
Senior Congress leaders, including AICC general secretary Jitendra Singh, MP Rakibul Hussain and Ripun Bora, also addressed the media during the rally. In the evening, the leaders held a brief public meeting while returning from the programme.
The mobile rally began earlier in the day at Kharupetia, with Gogoi and other party leaders travelling through several areas on a specially designed vehicle before concluding at Patharighat under the Sipajhar Assembly constituency.
Meanwhile, AICC general secretary in charge of Assam, Jitendra Singh, strongly criticised the Chief Minister’s allegations, saying that dragging the family of former Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, including an eight-year-old child, into political controversy had deeply hurt public sentiment in the State. He said personal attacks crossed the limits of political discourse and reminded that Tarun Gogoi had played a key role in Dr Sarma’s political rise.
All India Mahila Congress president Alka Lamba, reacting during her visit to Mangaldoi, accused the Chief Minister of misleading the people of Assam with false narratives and said the public would deliver the appropriate verdict. Leader of the Opposition in the Assam Legislative Assembly, Debabrata Saikia, also described the SIT report as a “flop show” and said the Chief Minister had lowered the dignity of his office.
