Gaurav Gogoi asked questions in Parliament at Pakistan’s behest: BJP

The BJP on Friday alleged that Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi’s wife Elizabeth Colburn has links with ISI, and the Deputy Leader of Opposition (LoP) in Lok Sabha asked questions in the Parliament at the behest of the Pakistan High Commission.

“Deputy LoP Gaurav Gogoi asked several critical questions related to India’s maritime security after meeting the Pakistan High Commissioner in 2015,” BJP national spokesperson Ajay Alok said.

“The BJP has gone to extreme steps to defame me and my family. Their allegations are malicious and baseless. I will take appropriate legal action,” he said in a post on X.

Addressing a press conference at the party headquarters here, the BJP leader alleged that Colburn has worked with ISI-backed Ali Tauqeer Sheikh as her guide in Doctor of Philosophy. “She has also worked with US Senator Tom Udall, who has close ties with George Soros,” Alok said.

He further alleged that one of Kolburn’s relatives is also connected with an organisation which conducted religious conversion across the world, including India. “They get funds from USAID which was recently banned by the Trump administration which is a part of the ‘deep state’,” he said.

“Was it a strategic marriage?... The Congress will have to answer the questions. It is because the Congress has had an anti-national stance since the beginning,” the BJP spokesperson said, asking Congress president Mallikarjubn Kharge, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and Gogoi to come out with a clarification on the matter.

The BJP leader alleged that Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Bashid in 2015 invited Gaurav Gogoi, who was a first time MP at that time and not even a member of any panel in Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) or Defence.

“..before going to meet him, Gogoi did not take permission from any one, be it the Home Ministry, MEA or the Lok Sabha Speaker. His visit was around the same time when the Indian government had accused Pakistan of interfering in India’s internal matters as the Pakistan High Commission had met Hurriyat,” Alok said.

After he visited the Pakistan High Commission, Gogoi’s organisation ‘Policy for Youth’ wrote an article in a newspaper accusing the Border Security Force personnel of alleged misbehaviour with “illegal women Bangladeshi intruders”.

Gogoi also asked questions in Lok Sabha such as “what is the status of coastal maritime security? How many radars have been installed along the Indian coastline and how many more radars do we (the government) want to install there?” the BJP spokesperson said.

“Asking these questions after getting them from the Pakistan embassy, what does it indicate? With whom was he sharing this information?” Alok asked.