BJP claims Gaurav Gogoi asked questions in LS at Pak High Commission's behest; Congress MP nixes charge

MP Gogoi threatens legal action against BJP over baseless allegations of wife's ISI links and anti-national activities.

The BJP Friday sharpened its attack on Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi, alleging that while his wife has links with ISI, the deputy leader of the opposition in Lok Sabha asked questions in the House on maritime security at the behest of the Pakistan High Commission.

Mr. Gogoi, the MP from Assam's Jorhat, hit back at the BJP and threatened to take legal action against the party.

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

Addressing a press conference at the party headquarters here, BJP national spokesperson Ajay Alok alleged that before marrying Mr. Gogoi in 2013, Elizabeth Colburn was an "ISI supporter" and had also worked with Pakistan Planning Commission vice chairman Ali Tauqeer Sheikh.

"Did he know about this before marrying her?... Was it a strategic marriage?" he asked. "The Congress will have to answer the question in this issue. It is because the Congress has had an anti-national stance since the beginning." Mr. Alok asked Congress president Mallikarjubn Kharge, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and Mr. Gogoi to come out with a clarification on the matter.

The BJP national spokesperson alleged that Mr. Gogoi had visited the Pakistan High Commission after he was elected to Lok Sabha in the 2014 parliamentary elections without seeking permission from the Lok Sabha Speaker, Home Ministry and other related ministries.

After he visited the Pakistani High Commission, Mr. Gogoi's organisation 'Policy for Youth' wrote an article in a newspaper accusing BSF personnel of misbehaving with "illegal women Bangladeshi intruders".