Himanta family occupies 12,000 bighas of land across Assam, alleges Gaurav Gogoi; BJP denies charge

Guwahati, Feb 4 (PTI) Assam Congress president Gaurav Gogoi on Wednesday alleged that Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma's family has grabbed around 12,000 bighas (over 3,960 acres) of land across the state.

Addressing a press conference here, Gogoi also claimed that Sarma has raked up his alleged Pakistan links to "cover up" the land scam.

"The Congress has done an investigation, and it yielded some startling revelations. Almost 12,000 bighas of land have been occupied by the CM and his family across Assam," he said.

Gogoi claimed that the figure is not the final one as the "investigation" is still going on, and it will go up in the coming days.

Responding to the allegations, BJP spokesperson Ranjib Kumar Sarmah told PTI that there is no truth in Gogoi's claims.

"What is the truthfulness of his statement? Is it possible to keep such a huge land when no individual can hold more than 50 bighas of land as per Indian laws? It is not possible due to the ceiling act. That means Gaurav Gogoi does not know the laws," he added.

Sarmah said that the Congress leader's allegations have no ground reality and no basis.

"If Gaurav Gogoi has any information, he should go to the court, as people had gone to court against Robert Vadra. People have knocked the court's doors on issues starting from Bofors to Vadra cases. If you have documents, approach the court to expose.

"Our judicial system gives a platform to expose corruption. Gaurav Gogoi is not doing it because the allegation is not true. He just wants to create some excitement with his baseless allegations, and nothing else," the BJP leader said.

Asked about the CM' recent claims to make public Gogoi's alleged Pakistan links, the Congress leader said, "Why did he not do it on September 10 last year? He has been sleeping for these five months and suddenly remembered my Pakistan links." The CM had earlier announced that he would make public all evidence related to Gogoi's alleged links by September 10, 2025.

"He (Sarma) knows that we are preparing a dossier of his and his family's corruption and land grab. So, he has raked it up again. I said earlier that it would be a flop show; I'm again saying it will be a flop show," the Deputy Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha said.

The Assam CM and the BJP have been attacking Lok Sabha MP Gogoi over his wife's alleged connection with Pakistan's spy agency ISI.

On January 27, Sarma said the state cabinet will take a formal decision on future course of action on a probe report by Assam Police on Gogoi's alleged links with Pakistan on February 7. Also, a press conference will be organised at 10:30 am on February 8 to reveal most of the SIT findings to the public, the CM said. PTI TR TR NN