Guwahati: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma Sunday alleged that Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi, his British wife Elizabeth Colburn and Pakistani national Ali Tauqeer Sheikh have a “deeper connection”, and information from IB was secretly provided to the neighbouring nation.
Addressing a press conference here ahead of the assembly polls, Sarma also claimed that FCRA rules were violated to pay salary to Colburn by Sheikh when she was working in India.
Besides, the CM alleged that Gogoi undertook a “very confidential” visit to Pakistan in 2013 and was believed to have undergone “some kind of training” there.
Gogoi, also the state Congress chief, termed Sarma’s presser “worse than a C-grade cinema” and it is “super flop”.
The CM said, “We believe there is a deeper connection between Gaurav Gogoi, Elizabeth Colburn and Ali Tauqeer Sheikh. We believe that Elizabeth and Ali Tauqeer Sheikh were part of an international conspiracy.”
Sarma asserted they bypassed the Indian government to work with local municipal agencies, and this cannot be probed by the Assam Police. “So we recommended a national probe by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs.”
“Elizabeth worked in Pakistan with Lead Pakistan, an organisation of the Sheikh. Then she was transferred to India and worked in the same organisation. But her salary continued to be paid by Ali Tauqeer Sheikh,” he said.
Lead Pakistan sent money to Lead India, and Lead India paid to Elizabeth bypasssing FCRA regulations, the CM alleged.
“Pakistani agencies cannot donate to an Indian entity as it’s an enemy nation. Probably special permission was obtained in UPA time to pay Elizabeth,” he added.
The CM claimed that after working in India, Colburn started gathering information surrounding India and used to give reports to the Sheikh.
“Elizabeth got information from IB sources about climate action after Narendra Modi came to power. She sent a 45-page report to Sheikh,” he added.
Sarma claimed that when working with Lead India, Colburn travelled to Islamabad six times, while visiting Pakistan thrice after joining another NGO.
“Elizabeth used to visit Pakistan only through the Attari border to keep it a low-key affair, and she never went by flight,” he said.
Sarma further asserted that getting Pakistani funds directly by violating FCRA is not easy, and he believes that there may be “another handler very close” to the establishment of the UPA government.
He also alleged that Colburn had a Pakistani bank account to receive salaries there, but she did not reply during questioning whether it was closed or still active.
“Gaurav, however, did not mention this Pakistani account in his election affidavit. Now, I feel his opponent should complain to the Election Commission about giving wrong information in the affidavit,” he added.
Assam govt will seek cancellation of OCI/VISA of Colburn as her presence is detrimental to India, Sarma said.
While the press conference was going on, Gogoi, in a post on X, said: “I pity the journalists from Delhi and Assam who had to suffer the most flop press conference of the century. This was worse than a C-grade cinema.”
“Most mindless and bogus points” have been offered by the “so-called political shrewd” CM of Assam, he said.
“This #SuperFlop is in contrast to our #XomoyParivartanYatra, which has been a hit in uncovering the 12,000 bighas of land occupied by the Chief Minister and his family members,” Gogoi said.
Sarma further said the Congress MP undertook a “very confidential visit” to Pakistan in December 2013, prior to his marriage, and he was staying at the CM’s residence then. His father, Tarun Gogoi, was Assam’s chief minister at that time.
“The Assam Police’s Special Branch was not informed about that visit. We found that Gaurav was allowed to visit Islamabad and Karachi, though the VISA was issued for Lahore only.
“He stayed there for 10 days. Strangely, Gaurav was digitally silent and no social media post was made. We suspect he went through some kind of training in that period,” Sarma said.
Sarma claimed that after returning from Pakistan and becoming an MP, Gogoi asked questions in Lok Sabha on defence hardware, nuclear plants and other sensitive issues, like whether India was spying in Pakistan.
Sarma said that Gogoi surrendered his son’s Indian passport in 2022 after the minor was given British citizenship.
“Gaurav’s son used to write Hindu as religion in Indian passport, but stopped writing it after a change in citizenship. His daughter writes Christian in British passport. Gaurav’s religion is Hindu in passport. So, he will always be a minority in his home,” he added.
Sarma said Sonia Gandhi left her Italian citizenship after Rajiv Gandhi became PM, and Rahul Gandhi should compare this with Gogoi’s case.
To a question, the CM said Assam Police’s SIT did not question Gogoi during its probe “as he is a sitting MP. We have left it to the Centre, showing some respect to his position.”
He said, “If I arrest Gaurav now, I will be accused of doing politics before elections. Arresting is a harsh step. I feel Gaurav is the most vulnerable politician in India now, as all his movements in the 10-day stay must have been photographed and recorded in Pakistan,” Sarma said.
The BJP leader said that the Sheikh visited India 13 times from 2010 to 2013 during the UPA tenure and focused on “anti-India narrative globally”
“After Assam Police began the probe, Sheikh deleted all tweets to protect someone,” he added.
