Rahul Set The Tone For Assam Elections: Starts Open War Against Himanta
- By Thetripurapost Desk, Guwahati
- Jul 20, 2025
- 438
The script for the next year's assembly elections in Assam is being written to be aggressive. The top leadership of the Congress has intensified attacks against Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma. Have Rahul Gandhi and Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge set the political tone for Mission-2026 by warning to send CM Himanta to jail if they come to power, because Himanta had challenged Rahul to arrest him a year and a half ago.
Let us tell you that just before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, with the entry of Congress' 'Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra' in Assam, the political conflict between Rahul Gandhi and Himanta Biswa Sarma had increased. After the clash between Congress workers and police while removing the barricade in Jorabat, Himanta had ordered the DGP to register an FIR against Rahul. Not only this, CM Himanta Biswa Sarma had talked about arresting Rahul Gandhi and sending him to jail after the Lok Sabha elections. After one and a half years, Rahul Gandhi has challenged Himanta Biswa to send him to jail.
Congress laid the ground plan for Assam elections.
Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge arrived in Assam on a day-long visit on Wednesday, where they met party officials and chalked out a roadmap for the assembly elections to be held next year. After holding several rounds of meetings in Guwahati to strengthen the Congress organization and discuss future plans, Rahul-Kharge targeted Himanta and BJP fiercely while addressing the workers in Chhaygaon.
Congress first changed the state leadership and now it is busy giving political edge to the election agenda. Rahul Gandhi and Kharge have made it clear that Congress has made a strategy to contest the Assam elections by raising the issue of corruption and putting Himanta Biswa Sarma in the dock. Rahul Gandhi said that the politics of BJP and RSS creates fear and division in the society. In response to this, Congress walks on the path of truth, justice and peace. He said that this is not just a political contest, but a fight to save the soul of the country.
Rahul VS Himanta is a fight of jail vs jail
Rahul Gandhi openly warned Himanta Biswa Sarma of sending him to jail. He said that your Chief Minister does not consider himself the Chief Minister but the King of Assam, but he will soon be in jail. Rahul Gandhi said that the CM of Assam is the most corrupt Chief Minister of India and in a short time the Babbar lion of Congress will send him to jail. The fear of this is clearly visible in his eyes, because now neither Narendra Modi nor Amit Shah will be able to save him. ' Kharge was also seen repeating the same thing and maintained a tough stance against Himanta.
Before Rahul-Kharge's program in Chhaygaon, Himanta Sarma said on an X-post that Rahul Gandhi said in a closed-door party meeting in Guwahati that take it in writing, Himanta Biswa Sarma will definitely be sent to jail. Rahul Gandhi came to Assam only to say this, but he himself forgot that he is out on bail in many cases.
Targeting Rahul, Himanta said that I have heard that you are out on bail on charges of massive corruption of more than Rs 5 thousand crore in the National Herald scam. You will be remembered as one of the most corrupt Congress presidents of India. Earlier, as soon as the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra entered Assam, a fierce political confrontation was seen between Himanta and Rahul.
When Rahul Gandhi had a confrontation with Assam Police in January 2024, Himanta had ordered an FIR to be registered against him and also talked about arresting and sending him to jail after the Lok Sabha elections. Now Rahul Gandhi is saying the same thing. In this way, Rahul and Himanta have been working to sharpen the political agenda of the state by talking about sending each other to jail.
After handing over the command of Congress in Assam to Gaurav Gogoi, Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge have set the agenda of Congress and the election tone of Assam on their first visit to Assam on Wednesday. The aggressive manner in which Rahul Gandhi has targeted the Himanta Biswa government makes it clear that the Congress will take on the BJP on the front foot in Assam. Apart from this, it has decided to fight the Assam elections on the issue of corruption.
Senior journalist Siddharth Kalhans says that Rahul Gandhi has worked to boost the falling morale of party leaders and workers by adopting a tough stance against Himanta Biswa Sarma. This is the reason why he said that if the Congress government is formed, Himanta Biswa Sarma will be sent to jail. Assuring the workers in the Chhaygaon meeting, Rahul said that a new team has been formed, work has started and the public will soon see its results. Describing the workers as the backbone of the party, he called them lions and lionesses. This is a strategy to increase the enthusiasm of the party workers, because the Congress has been out of power for 9 years.
Congress has made a plan to put BJP's biggest face in the dock of corruption for its comeback in Assam. Congress state president Gaurav Gogoi has already been very vocal about the alleged corruption cases of Himanta and his wife. Gogoi is constantly seen accusing Himanta and his wife Riniki Bhuyan Sarma of land grabbing and being involved in corruption on several occasions. In this episode, from Rahul Gandhi to Mallikarjun Kharge, everyone has started targeting CM Himanta Biswa Sarma.
The way both Rahul Gandhi and Kharge have targeted Himanta and have been seen giving political edge to the issue of corruption, it is clear that in the Assam elections to be held next year in 2026, the Congress has planned to set the election agenda on these two issues. Rahul said that the king of Assam is busy 24 hours a day giving your property, your land, sometimes to Adani, sometimes to Ambani, but if you look at his face and listen to his voice, it is clear that there is fear hidden in his heart, because he knows that one day he will have to go to jail.
From Rahul Gandhi to Kharge, everyone alleged that the Chief Minister and his family will have to answer for the scams. CM Sarma retorted to this statement saying that Rahul Gandhi has forgotten that he himself is out on bail. In this way, the game of checkmate has started between Congress and BJP. Congress is trying to set the election agenda around Himanta.
Congress will fight elections on the front foot in Assam
Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma started his political journey with Congress. Himanta Biswa Sarma was also a big leader of Congress and grew up under the leadership of Gaurav Gogoi's father Tarun Gogoi. When the then CM Tarun Gogoi promoted his son Gaurav Gogoi and started strengthening his political image, Himanta left the Congress party accusing him of doing nepotism politics. After this, he joined BJP and started targeting everyone from the Gogoi family to the Gandhi family.
CM Himanta had adopted a tough stance regarding Rahul Gandhi and does not miss any opportunity to target him. Congress has made a strategy to attack Himanta Biswa Sarma aggressively, which has been started by Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge. Earlier, Congress had made it clear by handing over the command of the state president to Gaurav Gogoi that it will fight aggressively against Himanta. Gaurav Gogoi has come on the front foot and opened a front against Himanta.
Congress hopes to return to power in Assam
Senior journalist Arvind Kumar Singh says that BJP has been in power in Assam since 2016 after Narendra Modi came to power at the center. After that, it returned to power again in 2021, but now its grip seems to be weakening. This is the reason why Congress is hoping for its return in the 2026 elections. There is an anti-incumbency wave in Assam against BJP. Badruddin Ajmal's grip on Muslim votes has weakened, signs of which have also been seen in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. This is the reason why instead of targeting PM Modi in Assam, Congress has planned to directly target Himanta Biswa Sarma. In this way, instead of making the Assam elections Modi vs Rahul, Congress is weaving political web around Himanta vs Gourav Gogoi.
Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday expressed confidence about the Congress' prospects in Assam and said that the people of the state now want change. He said that the Congress has started working on the ground and a direct dialogue is being made with the people through a new team. Many Congress workers are disheartened after the results of the panchayat elections, so they now need some oxygen to fight.
Congress is serious about not only contesting the elections seriously, but also about ending its 10-year political exile. By handing over the reins of the state organization to Gogoi, the Congress leadership had already made it clear that on the strength of its young faces, it has the strength to counter the aggressive politics of BJP leaders like Himanta on the ground in the same manner. Rahul Gandhi has now entered the political battlefield of Assam and blown the trumpet against CM Himanta.
Story of political rivalry between Rahul and Himanta
Some experts of Northeast politics link this confrontation with Himanta Biswa Sarma's 'old rivalry' with Rahul Gandhi. Rahul Gandhi had given political importance to the Gogoi family instead of Himanta, due to which Himanta could not become CM in 2011. Ghulam Nabi Azad also mentioned this in his book. Since Himanta left the Congress, he never misses an opportunity to target the Gandhi family, especially Rahul Gandhi.
The political confrontation between Rahul and Himanta was also seen during the Bharat Jodo Yatra in January 2024. When Rahul called Himanta the most corrupt CM, in response to this, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma also called the Gandhi family 'the most corrupt family of the country'.
In every city of Assam where Rahul Gandhi's visit passed, the Congress leader took the name of the Chief Minister of Assam in every meeting and said that Himanta Biswa Sarma was seen calling him 'the most corrupt Chief Minister of the country'. After this, this conflict kept increasing. An alleged attack on the car of Congress leader Jairam Ramesh came to light. The Chief Minister of Assam even instructed the DGP to register an FIR against Rahul Gandhi for the clash between Congress workers and the police during the removal of barricades in Jorabat. He had said that after the Lok Sabha elections, Rahul Gandhi would be arrested and sent to jail.
Arvind Kumar Singh says that the way Himanta has been speaking against Rahul Gandhi since joining BJP clearly shows that the pain of not making him the Chief Minister in the third term of Congress in Assam still hurts him. He has been continuously attacking Rahul on the political platform and Rahul Gandhi also does not miss the opportunity to target him. In this way, the battle of Assam is becoming quite interesting as well as aggressive.