Since the beginning of 2025, the political climate in Assam has taken a dramatic turn. It intensified when Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma raised concerns regarding Gaurav Gogoi’s links with Pakistan.
From claiming that his family received a salary from Pakistan, visited the country, met the Pakistani High Commissioner and had issues related to his child’s citizenship, the Chief Minister continued to put out new information in the public domain.
Meanwhile, Gaurav Gogoi remained largely silent. After being appointed as the President of the Congress party, he admitted to some of the accusations. This includes his visit to Pakistan, although he stated that these were personal matters.
How relevant is this controversy in current politics?
From the Congress party’s perspective, they appear to consider it irrelevant which is why they proceeded to appoint him as president. It should be noted that this is not the only allegation levelled against him.
Gaurav Gogoi was also previously accused of dismantling the Opposition Unity Forum led by then-president Bhupen Bora by collecting money in exchange for a ticket during the Behali elections. These controversies likely contributed to the party’s humiliating loss in the panchayat elections in his Lok Sabha constituency.
Additionally, the Biplab Sharma report revealed allegations that Gogoi accepted gold ornaments from Rakesh Paul, one of the main accused in the APSC scam. Moreover, allegations related to Neela Tej (blue blood/dynasty politics) still exist.
Another possible reason Congress selected Gaurav as president might be that Rahul Gandhi does not view him as a national-level face of the party due to his links with Pakistan. Many of these developments appear to be a mix of accusations and counter-narratives.
The ‘Congratulations Gaurav’ trend
Now let us turn to another issue. Since Gaurav became Congress president, a specific trend has emerged on social media—‘Congratulations Gaurav’.
However, not everything seen on social media can be trusted. Today’s platforms are flooded with fake followers and bot accounts.
Even so, the surge of support on Gaurav’s account cannot be dismissed outright as fake or bot-generated. Those who follow social media trends can clearly sense that IT Cells have had a role to play in this.
The concept of IT Cells may have originated in India with the Bharatiya Janata Party but today IT Cells play a critical role in global politics.
The recent elections in the United States are a strong example. Even in India, smaller political parties now actively operate their own IT Cells.
Many of those who slander BJP supporters as “Rs 1500-paid trolls” are unknowingly or knowingly part of Congress or opposition IT Cells. It is all part of a larger narrative.
The surge of ‘Congratulations Gaurav’ posts on the day he became president may have been initiated by the Congress IT Cell but many people joined in voluntarily.
However, who were they? Since 2016, the government has taken strict action against suspicious citizens. Despite political opposition it has acted against individuals and institutions promoting radical teachings.
Yet Congress-backed groups have not stopped. They have continued to promote a narrative that the BJP is anti-Muslim. This narrative has found some success as evidenced in the ‘Congratulations Gaurav’ trend.
From the moment he became president, Gaurav’s social media feed has been filled with congratulations from suspicious accounts.
These individuals seemed to believe that the weakened Congress party would now be revived under Gaurav and that he would put an end to Himanta Biswa’s actions against these radical groups.
Let us now consider the BJP’s response. When a meeting in Jorhat saw low attendance the BJP’s IT Cell highlighted it widely and people started reacting on their own.
In response efforts were made to gather larger crowds in central Assam. Ironically this led to a backlash as suspicious individuals again flooded those meetings to ‘Congratulate Gaurav’ and images of these people began circulating on social media.
Even accounts from Bangladesh began posting such messages which was noticed by the common people of Assam. This negative impact forced the Congress leadership to reconsider its strategy.
Around this time a WhatsApp message began circulating stating that people wearing topis would not be allowed at the Guwahati meeting. Congress termed this message fake but visuals showed that people in topis were indeed not allowed in the front rows at Gaurav’s Guwahati event.
Perhaps the Congress leadership began to realise they were losing the battle on social media and in the minds of the people of Assam. Initially encouraged by the online buzz and the views Gaurav’s videos were receiving Congress even mocked the Chief Minister—whose posts generally receive millions of views—by comparing their own higher engagement. They followed a model used by Karnataka’s Congress IT Cell.
But within two days they realised that the support was not coming from indigenous people. It was a reflection of the very narrative they had tried to promote for political gain over the years. Their enthusiasm faded and Congress once again attempted to revise its social media strategy.
Silent Meetings and Social Media Silence
While Gaurav was celebrating his appointment as president in Assam, The state was battling floods. Many questioned why there was any celebration at all.
After all, he had merely become his own party’s president, not won an election. The celebration appeared to be a calculated move to gain political mileage.
However this too backfired. While the Chief Minister and his administration visited flood-affected areas Congress was seen celebrating with a crowd of suspicious individuals which further damaged its image.
Earlier the Himanta Biswa government had taken bold steps by demolishing several madrasas after receiving intelligence about radical religious training being conducted under the guise of religious education.
Several madrasa administrators were found to have links with extremist groups in Bangladesh and Pakistan. These demolitions faced strong protests from radical religious leaders who attempted to instigate communal unrest.
One such figure was Maulana Ahmed Sayeed Govindpuri. After Gaurav became president he had a pre-planned itinerary in Barak Valley to meet this individual and visit multiple madrasas.
However following the incidents in Jorhat and Guwahati Congress attempted to mask this original itinerary by officially calling it a visit to flood-affected areas.
During the day Gaurav was seen visiting one or two camps draped in a traditional gamosa but by night away from the public eye and under ghost protocol he followed through with his original plan. He visited madrasas and held a private meeting with the radical Maulana Govindpuri.
Interestingly the people who had been regularly updating Gaurav’s every move on social media suddenly chose to keep these meetings under wraps. There could be two reasons for this:
1. These meetings were genuinely meant to be confidential.
2. After realising that most of Gaurav’s social media support came from Bangladeshi and suspicious accounts the party decided to adopt a backfoot strategy.
If the first reason is true it signals a dangerous future. It would suggest that if Congress comes to power again it may try to impose an even heavier burden of illegal immigrants on Assam in a more aggressive way due to its previous political miscalculations.
If the second reason is true it reflects Congress’s double standards. They are happy to exploit suspicious communities for political narrative-building but are equally ready to discard them when it suits their political interests.
Social media is rife with falsehoods but amid the chaos the truth often appears unpalatable. The facts and insights discussed above stand as a testimony to that reality.
