Assam panchayat polls: BJP unleashing atrocities against Oppn, says Gogoi

Assam Congress MP and the party's deputy leader in the Lok Sabha on Friday, 18 April, accused the BJP of employing "goons" to perpetrate atrocities against Opposition candidates ahead of the upcoming panchayat elections in the state.

He asserted that the state administration is biased towards the BJP and has failed to take action against these individuals.

Gogoi highlighted that despite efforts by state Congress president Bhupen Borah and MP Pradyut Bordoloi to raise the issue with the police, no measures have been taken against the alleged perpetrators.

He also stated that Congress workers will not be intimidated and they will take on the BJP in the polls. “We have a long history of contesting against the ruling dispensation, and our party workers are adamant not to let down their guard in front of the intimidation and fearmongering tactics of the BJP,” Gogoi added.

Over the past few days, Congress spokesperson @SinghReetam has been relentlessly targeted and implicated in one case after another. I visited Morigaon District Jail yesterday to meet him and extend my solidarity. It was Pohila Bohag so I managed to give him some pitha and other… pic.twitter.com/gOZYkHimCN

— Gaurav Gogoi (@GauravGogoiAsm) April 16, 2025

Earlier in the day, chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said, “Congress has only one agenda — defame Assam. There have been 22,000 villages in the state, and there may be one or two stray incidents happened in some areas. The Congress party could have brought this to the notice of the administration, and the state administration will definitely take proper action.”

Gogoi invoked both the party's legacy and the resolve of its grassroots workers to ensure democratic participation, despite the challenges. The Congress leader aims to boost morale among party supporters and call out what they see as electoral malpractices.

Gogoi's accusation underscores a broader concern within the Congress party about the neutrality and fairness of the state machinery in the run-up to panchayat elections. It's part of their narrative that democratic processes are being undermined.

Gogoi on Wednesday alleged that Assam is witnessing a "disturbing collapse" of law and order, and has become a police state where "intimidation and miscarriage of justice have become the norm".

With PTI inputs