Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday initiated a ₹500-crore defamation lawsuit against senior Congress leaders Jitendra Singh, Bhupesh Baghel, and Gaurav Gogoi, accusing them of making “false” and “malicious” claims regarding his land holdings. The controversy has intensified political tensions in Assam ahead of the state elections scheduled for later this year.
The legal action follows allegations made last week by Assam Congress president Gaurav Gogoi, who claimed that a party inquiry had found that Sarma and his family owned or occupied nearly 12,000 bighas of land across the state.
Soon after the accusations surfaced, Sarma announced his intention to pursue legal action, stating that the claims were made without any supporting evidence. The defamation suit, seeking ₹500 crore in damages, was formally filed on Tuesday.
Announcing the move on social media, Sarma said he had filed the case against the three Congress leaders for making defamatory statements during a press conference.
Earlier, the Chief Minister had said he would not be deterred by what he described as propaganda, slander, or political drama by “slaves of the Gandhi family.” The BJP leader, who quit the Congress in 2015, further asserted that the time for “hit-and-run politics” was over and challenged his critics to substantiate their allegations in court.
Political tensions have further escalated between Sarma and Gogoi as the election season approaches. Sarma recently accused Gogoi and his British wife, Elizabeth Colburn, of having “deep links” with a Pakistani national, Ali Tauqeer Sheikh, and suggested that sensitive information may have been passed to Pakistan.
The Congress responded strongly, rejecting the allegations and claiming that Sarma had no documentary proof to back his statements, accusing him of having lost his mental balance.
