00:00Okay, let me go straight across to our newsmaker tonight, Gaurab Gogoi, the Congress's face
00:04in Assam, Deputy Leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha joins me.
00:07Mr. Gogoi, very serious allegations have been made against you by Hemantabhiswa Sarma that
00:13you pose a national threat, that you and your wife Elizabeth, who's a British citizen, have
00:18links with Pakistan, that your wife was employed by a Pakistan-based company, that she was
00:23receiving monies from them and that she even shared, according to the Chief Minister, confidential
00:29information with a Pakistan conduit and may even have a financial account in Pakistan and
00:35wants a central probe into it.
00:36How do you respond to these allegations, which Mr. Sarma claims are based on an SIT report
00:41of your alleged links of you and your wife with Pakistan?
00:48Razdeep, I agree with you.
00:50These matters of national security should be treated with utmost importance.
00:54These are not mere political charges to be flung around carelessly in the aim to spread propaganda
01:02or win an election.
01:04But that is exactly what the Chief Minister of Assam is doing.
01:08In his SIT report, which he had with himself for the past six months, in September it was
01:16made available to him.
01:18For the past six months, on a matter of national security, he did not choose to do anything.
01:24He did not refer to this report to the central government, even though it was available with
01:29him in September.
01:30And now that elections are two months away, now he is taking this action.
01:35I wanted to know if national security is so important.
01:38I agree it should be very important.
01:40Then why, when the report was made available to him in September, why has he not acted on it?
01:45Why was he silent for the past six months?
01:48It clearly shows that he himself has read the report and not found a single shred of evidence
01:54to prove his wild, baseless and bogus allegations.
01:58But with due regard, why have you not responded to specific allegations?
02:03For example, he makes the claim that your wife, Elizabeth Colburn, worked with an organization,
02:08an NGO lead Pakistan, run by one Taukir Sheikh, former advisor to the Planning Commission of
02:14Pakistan. And he claims that her salary continued to be played by Sheikh even when she moved to
02:20India with you.
02:21These are specific charges. For example, he says, you went on a visa to Pakistan in 2013,
02:26traveled to different parts outside even your visa, what was marked on your visa without informing the
02:33government of India in 2013. So he's making specific allegations time and again against you and your
02:39wife. Why don't you respond to each and every one of them?
02:41Rajdeep, these allegations are not new. He's been making these allegations since the past one year,
02:49since February of 2025. And in June, after becoming the president of the state unit of the Congress
02:57Party, I have addressed a press conference in Delhi at the AICC headquarters, where all these allegations
03:04and all these facts have been made clear in last year's press conference and to various media channels in my state
03:13also, I have made all these facts clear. At the same time, I have never gone to court to block the SIT or sort any
03:23relief from SIT. I have always said that in matters of national security, I'm always willing to support any
03:31investigation. And would you believe the SIT constituted by the Chief Minister Himanto Bishwara Sharma not once
03:38visited me, not once came to me and asked me any of these questions that you're asking, not once the SIT
03:45found it important to ask the questions that the Chief Minister is asking in his press conferences.
03:50So the Chief Minister may do one thing, but this SIT never came and asked these questions. And as I said earlier,
03:57all these facts I have made known to the public. For your viewers today on this show, again, I've said
04:03that back in 2000, Jan or early 2014, prior to me becoming a member of parliament, I had married my wife
04:13two months ago. She was part of an international program in which she spent one year in Pakistan
04:20and then continuing to be part of that program. She went and worked for an Indian NGO, which was
04:26part of the same international program. Having married just a few months ago, when she had to go
04:32to Pakistan for work and to meet with her colleagues, I felt that I should also accompany her.
04:39And I followed all the legal norms that one needs to follow, which is to apply for permission to cross
04:48the border, to give the Indian government all the details, to apply for specific cities where you want
04:55to travel to, to come back. And then, of course, my passport after becoming an MP, I had surrendered to the
05:02government of India. So the Modi government knows about my visit, has seen all the stamps. I think,
05:07Rajdeep, I've spent only 10 days. I think there are many people in Indian media who have spent far
05:13more days than me in Pakistan. And as I said, this is nothing but an attempt of the chief minister to
05:21distract from the way the Congress party is going to the people of Assam with facts related to 4,000 acres
05:30of land being occupied by his chief, by his family, by his wife, by various members of his family. I don't
05:37remember any chief minister of Assam ever owning close to 4,000 acres in a small state like Assam.
05:44This has only happened because his misused power, changed land laws, and all of this corruption stands
05:51when people of Assam don't have land, when they are landless, when they don't have papers. But here's
05:57the chief minister who's going on with absolute corruption. Government schools are being shut. So this is
06:02nothing but an attempt to distract the people from the agenda that the Congress party is taking.
06:07You're claiming it's a distraction, but he keeps making specific allegations. Did your wife,
06:12for example, travel to Pakistan nine times after marrying you? Is it true that she knows someone
06:18called Tokir Sheikh? Is it true that he was paying or his company was paying her salary even in India?
06:24As I said, specific charges that he keeps making in his press conferences. Are you on your part willing to
06:30put out, let's say, a counter charge sheet responding to these charges that are made in these press conferences?
06:39I've just finished a press conference today. And as I said last year, these allegations have been
06:47started by Hemantabishwa Sharma since February of 2025. So these are not new. I have appeared in national and
06:55regional media. And I've been asked on these questions many times. Every time I've happily clarified.
07:01There's nothing that I have not said before. I've said all the facts that in what circumstances,
07:06as part of an international program. She was first employed by a Pakistani NGO. And as part of the same
07:13international program, which was funded by governments of the UK and the Netherlands, she
07:18worked with the Indian NGO. And the said person that you've talked about, there are also reports
07:24that that said person has traveled to Gujarat and worked with the Gujarat state government when
07:28Sri Narendra Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat. Now, has the BJP decided to give the Gujarat government,
07:35the BJP government to Gujarat a clean ship, and are only poking these questions because I am taking on
07:41their chief minister straight and center in Assam. Why different yardsticks for Gujarat government,
07:49where they have worked with said Pakistani individual, and different yardsticks for the
07:56spouse of a congress MP? But Mr. Gogai, why don't you file a criminal defamation case then? If you
08:01believe that this is all part of a character assassination with an eye on the Assam elections,
08:05go ahead and file a criminal defamation against Hemantabishwa Sharma. Why the hesitation?
08:10Well, as I said, we don't want to impede the SIT investigation in any way. We don't want the
08:17court to order a stay. We don't want any sort of relief from the SIT. We're willing to cooperate
08:22first. And secondly, if you read the headlines today in major Assamese papers, it says bogus press
08:30conference, fake allegations, chief minister failed to prove anything. And therefore, the chief minister
08:37managed to make a national embarrassment of himself, made a mockery of himself on national stage.
08:42And why should I prevent the chief minister from doing that? He's gone to the extent of constituting
08:47an SIT. And in the end, he's managed to find not a single shred of evidence that establishes me or my
08:56spouse as an agent of a foreign country. Both of us are proud of our cultures. Both of us have decided to
09:04raise our family in Delhi. Okay, I'm going to leave it there, Gaurav Gogoi. We'll wait and see how this
09:11plays out. It's election time. And therefore, we can expect these charges and counter charges
09:17to fly about. But I thank you for taking the time off to join me here tonight.
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