Guwahati, July 16: In a dramatic turn of political rhetoric, Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday declared at a public rally in Chaygaon that Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma would soon be arrested — a statement that uncannily mirrored a claim Sarma had made earlier the same day on social media.
Speaking at Bongaon in Assam’s Chaygaon constituency, Gandhi thundered, “I don’t speak without thinking. Whatever I say, it happens. Mark my words — very soon, you will see your Chief Minister being arrested. And no power, not even PM Modi or Amit Shah, can prevent it.” He further added that it wouldn’t be the Congress Party, but the people of Assam — farmers, youth, labourers, and citizens of every religion and community — who would bring Sarma to justice, calling the CM “corrupt.”
The Congress MP also accused the Assam government of using eviction and development drives as a cover for “land grabbing” operations. “He grabs land under the pretext of solar power projects or resorts. He robs the state’s land 24/7 — and everyone knows it,” Gandhi alleged.
Drawing parallels with national issues, Gandhi framed Assam’s situation as part of a broader pattern, accusing the BJP government of handing over land and natural resources to corporate giants like Adani, Ambani, and Ramdev. “This country does not belong to five or six billionaires — it belongs to its people,” he asserted.
Interestingly, just hours before Gandhi’s public meeting, CM Himanta Biswa Sarma had posted on social media that Rahul Gandhi, during a closed-door meeting with Congress leaders in a Guwahati hotel, had vowed to send him to jail. “Take it in writing, Himanta Biswa Sarma will definitely be sent to jail,” Sarma claimed Gandhi had said during a Political Affairs Committee meeting.
This unusual synchronicity between Sarma’s claim and Gandhi’s subsequent public remarks has raised fresh intrigue over political messaging, surveillance, and timing within Assam’s charged political landscape.
While the BJP has dismissed Gandhi’s statements as “baseless political theatrics,” Congress leaders maintain that the public is growing increasingly frustrated with corruption, eviction drives, and crony capitalism.
