Over 5K social media accounts from Islamic nations back Assam Cong: Himanta

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Friday alleged that over 5,000 social media accounts, mostly operated from Islamic countries, have become active in favour of the Assam Congress.
Addressing a press conference, Sarma claimed that these accountsoriginating from 47 countries, with the highest numbers from Bangladesh and Pakistan have been focusing exclusively on the activities of a particular Assam Congress leader and the party's state unit pages over the past month.
"It is surprising that they do not comment on or like posts by Rahul Gandhi or even the Indian National Congress. They are only focused on a particular leader and the Assam Congress," Sarma said.
Besides Assam, they post Islamic fundamentalist content, including pro-Palestine, Iran and Bangladesh's Chief Advisor Prof Md Yunus.
Though the CM did not name the leader, he appeared to be referring to Gaurav Gogoi, who was appointed Assam Pradesh Congress Committee president in May last week.
Sarma remarked, "We are not concerned with the change in the party's leadership in the state, but this development has taken place in the last month and there must be some link'.
'For the first time, there is so much foreign involvement in Assam politics in the run-up to the 2026 assembly elections', he said.
The CM said the central government has been apprised of the issue, calling it a matter of "national security".
He said some of the 5,000 accounts have given Guwahati as the location, and 'We are not ruling out that some of the accounts may be from within the state." 'The locations are disclosed in the accounts, and we conducted a forensic audit of those who had joined in the last month," Sarma said.
It was found that 700 accounts are from Bangladesh, 350 from Pakistan, 246 from Saudi Arabia, 86 from Kuwait and 35 from Afghanistan, he added.
'Some accounts are private, and deeper investigations are required. It is a serious security concern that over 5,000 social media accounts were opened in a month, and they are commenting and liking posts related to Assam," he added.
Besides, there is information that some people from outside have rented houses in two localities of Guwahati and have connected with YouTubers and social media influencers for this purpose, the CM claimed.
"Surveillance is being kept on them. Fundamentalist elements have entered Assam and are active in the run-up to the elections,' he said.
Sarma also alleged that they have also made inroads into some digital media organisations in the state.
He claimed that there are also plans to set up a call centre in Kolkata to carry out such activities.
The Chief Minister said it is also possible that these account holders are connected through WhatsApp and other messaging apps as they belong to countries with different time zones and are alerted when any such fundamentalist content is posted.
He claimed that Muslims from Assam, whether indigenous or migrants settled here, will not post such content.
Sarma said in the next stage, they may take shadow Hindu names like 'many do to marry Hindu women'.
He further said that Assam and the North East have always been on the international fundamentalist radar and severing the 'chicken neck' to make it a part of Bangladesh has been an 'unfinished agenda' for the hardcores.
'We are in a very critical situation and the entire matter is being looked into from the national security angle', Sarma added.
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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