‘National Security Threat’ in Assam, Diplomatic Responsibility in Delhi

For months now, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has repeatedly alleged that Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi’s alleged Pakistan links are a matter of “national security.” The accusations have been sharp, public and quite persistent.

The Chief Minister had claimed that Gogoi’s wife, Elizabeth Colburn Gogoi, had previously worked in Pakistan and alleged links to Ali Tauqueer Sheikh, who was flagged in an Assam Police SIT probe. The issue, he said, was not political, it was about the country’s security.

But just yesterday, a development from New Delhi has raised an obvious question.

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla nominated Gaurav Gogoi as the President of the India-Philippines Parliamentary Friendship Group, a body meant to strengthen India’s ties with another nation. If the allegations are as serious as described, how did Gogoi get entrusted with representing India in an international parliamentary platform?

CM Sarma, while speaking to reporters on Tuesday, reacted mockingly to the development, saying that Gogoi should have been made the president of the “Pakistan Parliamentary Friendship Group” instead of the Philippines group.

Union Minister of State and BJP Leader Pabitra Margherita responded by calling it a routine process. He clarified that Gogoi has not been given a powerful chairmanship but has simply been nominated to head a friendship group, as he continues to be an elected Member of Parliament.

“This is not a clean-chit for Gaurav Gogoi. He continues to enjoy all parliamentary privileges. Meanwhile, the investigation into his Pakistan links will continue,” he said.

“When an appropriate judicial ruling finds him guilty, all his privileges will go away,” Margherita added.

On one hand, the Assam Chief Minister and the BJP in general in the state have been strongly projecting Gogoi as someone whose alleged links with Pakistan raise questions of "national security". On the other, the central parliamentary leadership has appointed him to lead a diplomatic outreach group.

If the issue truly concerns national security, why such a responsibility was given to him at all? And if the nomination is routine and harmless as Margherita said, does it dilute the seriousness of the allegations repeatedly raised against Gogoi in Assam?

Also Read: Gaurav Gogoi Details 2012 Pakistan Visit with His Wife