The Sarma-Gogoi episode

Assam Chief Minister Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma is not one to let an opportunity slip when it comes to targeting the Congress, particularly the Nehru-Gandhi family. Since his defection to the BJP ahead of the 2016 Assam Assembly elections, Sarma has emerged as one of the most vociferous critics of his former party, often combining acerbic rhetoric with legal maneuvers to corner his political adversaries. Sarma’s aggressive style is by now a well-known facet of Assam’s political landscape. His verbal attacks on Congress leaders, at times laced with vitriol and bordering on the frivolous, have been matched by a penchant for dragging political disputes into the legal arena. From threatening defamation suits against Rahul Gandhi and other Congress figures to launching police investigations, Sarma has consistently blurred the lines between political rivalry and legal recourse. The latest episode in this ongoing saga centers around Gaurav Gogoi, a prominent Congress leader whose stature has been steadily rising, both within Assam and nationally. What began as a political face-off quickly veered into a personal assault when Sarma shifted his focus to Gogoi’s wife, Elizabeth Colburn Gogoi, a British national. Sarma alleged that Colburn had links to Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), citing her professional association with Ali Tauqeer Sheikh, a Pakistani climate policy expert and former advisor to the Pakistan Planning Commission. By linking Sheikh as part of an ISI front, Himanta is trying to raise a purported national security concerns over Colburn’s work and travel history in Pakistan. These allegations prompted the Assam government to consider forming a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to scrutinize Colburn’s travel records, passport, and visa details. However, while Sarma’s rhetoric seemed squarely aimed at Elizabeth Gogoi, the subsequent FIR filed by Assam Police under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) conspicuously omitted her name, instead targeting Sheikh. Gaurav Gogoi, in response, denounced the accusations as a smear campaign against his family and vowed legal action against BJP leaders.Observers believe this bitter exchange is underpinned by political calculations with an eye on the 2026 Assam Assembly elections. Gogoi had earlier alleged that Rinki Bhuyan Sarma, the Chief Minister’s wife, benefited from a Rs 10 crore credit-linked subsidy from the Centre through her company, Pride East Entertainments Private Limited. Sarma’s counteroffensive is widely viewed as an attempt to neutralize Gogoi, who is increasingly seen as a key figure in the Congress’s resurgence in Assam and, by some, as a potential prime ministerial contender.Despite his relentless pursuit, Sarma suffered a political setback when Gogoi secured a resounding victory in the recent Lok Sabha polls. This electoral triumph has only bolstered speculation that Gogoi could spearhead the Congress’s revival in the state—a prospect that undoubtedly threatens Sarma, who, despite his commanding presence as the state’s ‘everywhere CM,’ faces growing anti-incumbency sentiments. Ultimately, the incessant recourse to legal avenues in political battles raises a troubling question on whether courts are being weaponized to serve political ends? The frequent invocation of defamation suits and anti-terror laws risks morphing into what some term ‘legal terrorism,’ reducing the judiciary to a pawn in partisan warfare. If this trend persists, it could erode public faith in both the legal system and democratic discourse-an outcome far graver than any electoral defeat.