Tarun Gogoi: PM has insulted me

Guwahati, Apr 1: Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi today accused the Prime Minister Narendra Modi of insulting him during his visit to the state to campaign for BJP for the upcoming state assembly polls and questioned his courage.

"Where did Modi get the courage to insult me in my own state, on my own land where I was born, did my studies and devoted 45 years of my life in the service of the people and the youth here?" Gogoi asked while talking to reporters here.

"He can criticise me but not insult. He must have got the courage from (BJP chief ministerial candidate) Sarbananda Sonowal and (BJP leader) Himanta Biswa Sarma," the chief minister asserted.

"Modi has become such a big dictator that he comes to Assam and insults me on my soil," Gogoi claimed referring to a speech by Modi at an election campaign rally on Saturday.

Attacking Gogoi, who is seeking a fourth straight term as Assam chief minister, Modi had said "It is no longer Tarun Gogoi, but Tarun go, go".

The prime minister had also said Gogoi would be 90 years old in a few years and he had come to Assam to pay his respects to him. Gogoi, who according to his poll affidavit is about 79 years, said disrespecting him amounted to disrespecting the people of Assam as they had elected him as their chief minister.

The Chief Minister, who belongs to the Ahom community, also commented on BJP president Amit Shah last week at a poll rally in Assam saying that Ahom king Sukaphaa had attacked and defeated the Mughals 17 times.

"They (BJP) don't know the history of Assam or the state. They haven't find out," Gogoi said. Sukaphaa had founded the Ahom kingdom in 1228 AD and died in 1268 AD, while Babur established the Mughal Empire in 1526 AD.

Gogoi's son and MP Gaurav Gogoi at a press meet in Jorhat yesterday had said the prime minister's remarks in reference to their family name 'Gogoi' was not only an insult to the chief minister but to the whole community sharing the surname.

PTI