Assam CM Gaurav Gogoi to CM Himanta Sarma: Stop ‘Hindu certificates’ to politicians

GUWAHATI

Assam Congress president and Jorhat MP Gaurav Gogoi on Wednesday (February 18, 2026) advised Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma to stop giving ‘Hindu certificates’ to politicians.

He also said that his predecessor Bhupen Kumar Borah’s decision to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had exposed his “long-rumoured close relationship” with the Chief Minister, a former Congress leader.

On Tuesday (February 17, 2026), the Chief Minister said Mr. Borah was the “last Hindu leader” without a dynastic family in Congress. He visited the former Assam Congress president’s residence a day after he submitted his resignation to the party’s high command.

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“The Chief Minister is acting like Assam’s Jinnah and trying to polarise politics in the State. He should stop issuing Hindu certificates to politicians,” Mr. Gogoi told journalists.

Keeping in mind Mr. Borah, who is set to join the BJP on February 22, he said that defectors eventually become “insignificant” in their political careers after donning saffron. “We have the example of Sarbananda Sonowal [who Mr. Sarma replaced as the Chief Minister in 2021], and the Asom Gana Parishad is on the verge of extinction [because of its alliance with the BJP],” Mr. Gogoi said.

“Bhupen Borah’s departure will not impact our party’s prospects in the upcoming Assembly elections,” he said.

Insisting that Congress is too deep-rooted to be wished away, Mr. Gogoi said that the flight of some leaders to other parties had cleansed his party. He also said that the electoral contest in Assam would be between the “real Congress” and the “old Congress”, whose “most corrupt” members form the crux of the BJP today.

Earlier, Mr. Borah said he decided to quit Congress after he felt that his 32 years of sacrifice for the party went unacknowledged. Taking to social media, he said he outlined his grievances in a letter to Mr. Gogoi a month before submitting his resignation letter on February 16.

“I felt I was not needed and resigned,” he said.