Himanta's allegations on Gaurav baseless, CM lost mental balance: Congress
Guwahati (PTI): The opposition Congress on Sunday slammed Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma over what it called baseless claims about Gaurav Gogoi's alleged Pakistan links and said the CM appears to have "lost his mental balance".
A battery of national and state leaders of the Congress defended Gogoi and said Sarma had "diminished" the dignity of the CM's office, and that police could not even file an FIR against the Assam Congress chief due to lack of "any evidence at all".
Earlier during the day, Sarma, in a press conference, alleged that Gogoi, his British wife Elizabeth Colburn and Pakistani national Ali Tauqeer Sheikh had a "deeper connection", and that information from the Intelligence Bureau was secretly passed on to the neighbouring nation.
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"The CM appeared to have lost his mental balance and had no documentary evidence to support his claims. Politics is one thing, but making baseless allegations against a respected family at a personal level is extremely reprehensible," All India Congress Committee General Secretary (in-charge of Assam) Jitendra Singh said.
Everyone in Assam knows the contribution of former CM Tarun Gogoi to Sarma's political rise, he added.
"After betraying Tarun Gogoi for power, the CM has now been levelling serial allegations against Gogoi for the past year. The Gogoi family treated Himanta with dignity, made him an MLA and a minister. The smear campaign he is now running against the family of a father figure is deeply unfortunate," Singh said.
He further stated that despite forming an SIT and continuing its proceedings, the state government has been misleading the people of Assam through press conferences.
Assam Police on February 17, 2025, had constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe a case against the Pakistani national Ali Tauqeer Sheikh for his social media comments on Assam and India's internal affairs.
Leader of the Opposition in the Assam Legislative Assembly, Debabrata Saikia, described the SIT report and Sarma's presser as a "flop show" and said the CM had lowered the dignity of his own office.
Former Rajya Sabha MP Ripun Bora also termed Sarma's press conference a "super flop" and said his earlier comments on the SIT had been proven correct.
"I had said the SIT has no authority to investigate such matters. Today, the CM himself admitted that the SIT formed by the Assam government could investigate only about 20 per cent of the alleged Pakistan link due to limitations. By accepting his own incompetence, Sarma has now pushed the matter to the central government," he added.
The senior Congress leader further questioned why, if the issue pertained to national security, the CM remained silent for six months after receiving the report.
"If Gogoi had travelled to Pakistan in 2013, and if the matter was so serious, why did neither the Modi government nor the investigating agencies act after 2014? Did it take 12 years to realise this?" he asked, adding that no one could be branded a 'Pakistani agent' without conclusive findings.
Taking a dig, Bora said Sarma had imagined detonating an 'atom bomb' against Gogoi, but what emerged was not even a 'chocolate bomb'.
"Despite having an SIT, they neither filed an FIR nor a chargesheet simply because there was no evidence. In the coming days, we will address the issue in detail in a separate press conference," he added.
Congress’ media and publicity department head, Pawan Khera, slammed Sarma for his allegations against Gogoi.
Khera alleged that Sarma occupied land, plots, and shops for five years, and as soon as elections approached, he started talking about Muslims, Miyan, and Pakistan. He said such baseless allegations by Sarma show that he has lost his mental balance.
All India Mahila Congress President Alka Lamba, reacting to the SIT report, accused Sarma of attempting to mislead the people of Assam with false narratives, stating that the public would deliver the appropriate verdict.
Assam Pradesh Mahila Congress president Mira Borthakur said the people of Assam have been fed up with Sarma's theatrics.
APCC media and communications department chairman Bedabrat Bora termed the six-month delayed SIT press conference an "anti-climax", stating that the dignity of the CM's office has been severely undermined before the national media.
Calling Gogoi a "key player" in the anti-India network and his wife a Pakistani "agent", Sarma on Sunday left it to the "people's court" to decide the Congress leader's activities against the country.
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Trump says EU has until July 4 to approve last year's trade deal or it will face higher tariffs
Washington (AP): President Donald Trump has said in a social media post that goods from the European Union would face higher tariff rates if the 27-member bloc fails to approve last year's trade framework by July 4.
The announcement on Thursday appeared to be a deadline extension after the president said last Friday that EU autos would face a higher 25 per cent tariff starting this week. Trump made the updated announcement after what he described as a "great call" with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
Still, the US president was displeased that the European Parliament had yet to finalize the trade arrangement reached last year, which was further complicated in February by the US Supreme Court ruling that Trump lacked the legal authority to declare an economic emergency to impose the initial tariffs used to pressure the EU into talks.
"A promise was made that the EU would deliver their side of the Deal and, as per Agreement, cut their Tariffs to ZERO!" Trump posted. "I agreed to give her until our Country's 250th Birthday or, unfortunately, their Tariffs would immediately jump to much higher levels."
It was unclear from the post whether Trump was implying that the tariff rates would jump on all EU goods or the increase would only apply to autos.
His latest statement indicates he might be backing away from his earlier threat on EU autos by giving the European Parliament several more weeks to approve the agreement.
Under the original terms of the framework, the US would charge a 15 per cent tax on most goods imported from the EU.
But since the Supreme Court ruling, the administration has levied a 10 per cent tariff while investigating trade imbalances and national security issues, aiming to put in new tariffs to make up for lost revenues.
