Assam Cong leader laughs off BJP's verbal attack on wife

Guwahati: BJP leader and Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, along with other BJP leaders in the state, issued an attack on Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi over his wife’s foreign citizenship and her having worked in Pakistan in the past. However, Gogoi slammed the group and put a plug to their verbose, saying that these types of rants appear once an election, but he reminded the BJP faction that a year still remains for state elections.

Sarma wrote X, in reference to Gogoi’s wife, Elizabeth Gogoi, who is originally from the UK and works in climate policy, that Indian Foreign Services officers require permission from the Union government to marry foreigners and commit to their spouses acquiring Indian citizenship, The Indian Express reported.

He wrote, “However, allowing a foreign spouse of a lawmaker to retain foreign citizenship for 12 years is far too long. Loyalty to the nation must always take precedence over all considerations.”

Sarma launched the attack after certain social media accounts raised the alarm over Elizabeth, who had worked in Pakistan during her time working at the Climate Development and Knowledge Network (CDKN), Asia, between 2011 and 2015.

However, Gogoi, laughing off the allegations, told reporters on Wednesday that he trusts the conscience of the public.

“Normally, these kinds of things emerge close to elections. Last time, when I was contesting for the Jorhat Lok Sabha seat, these questions started coming about a month before the elections. ‘Why did he marry a woman from another country? Could he not find a woman in Assam?’ These ‘masala’ things come up around elections. But this time, elections are not even close. There is one year left [for the Assam assembly elections], and the BJP has already started these things,” TIE quoted the Congress leader.