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Key Points:
Assam BJP uploaded a video showing Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma aiming and shooting at men in skullcaps, resembling Muslims, including one resembling Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi. The video titled “Point Blank Shot” carried “No Mercy” messaging and provocative text in Assamese.
The video triggered severe backlash from opposition parties and minority communities, forcing Assam BJP to remove it on February 8, 2026. CPI(M) said it issued calls for targeted violence against Muslims and amounted to an open call for ethnic cleansing and genocide.
As elections near, CM Sarma accused Gaurav Gogoi of being a Pakistani agent, while BJP used #PakAgentGaurav and organised statewide protests. Gogoi denied the allegations, called them false baseless, and opposition leaders questioned why no FIR or arrest followed.
Assam’s Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma can be seen shooting at people wearing skullcaps, in a video on X. Assam BJP uploaded the aforementioned video, generated using AI on Saturday, February 7, 2026. The video shows Himanta Biswa Sarma (actual footage at a shooting range) holding a rifle, and taking an aim at two men in skullcaps, with beards, resembling Muslims. One of the men resembles Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi. CM Sarma then proceeds to shoot the people, and the video transitions into shots fired at the people (posters on a wall).
The video has garnered severe backlash from the Opposition and the minority communities across India. The video, titled “Point Blank Shot”, further shows a text of “No Mercy”, and ends with Himanta Biswa Sarma’s image holding a gun as a cowboy, in that attire. The image further shows superimposed text phrases in Assamese, which loosely translates to “No Mercy to Bangladeshis”, “Why did you go to Pakistan?”, and “Foreigner-free Assam”.
Following the outrage from the opposition political parties, Assam BJP removed the video on Sunday, February 8, 2026. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)], stated that the video made provocative statements against the Muslims, and issued calls for targeted violence against them.
In a post on X dated February, 8, 2026, the CPI(M) said: “Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and the BJP in Assam are using the SIR exercise and the bogey of 'infiltrators' to make highly communal, provocative statements and issue calls for targeted violence against Muslims.
The latest video posted by the BJP’s official handle amounts to an open call for ethnic cleansing and genocide.” CPI(M) general secretary MA Baby said that the Supreme Court must take strict action against CM Himanta Biswa Sarma for disrupting communal harmony.
The Congress also criticised the video, stating that the BJP government and Himanta Biswa Sarma were glorifying targeted, point blank murder of minorities. The All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) too condemned the BJP Assam government and said that the video was a green signal for genocide and mass murder.
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Previously, CM Sarma had made provocative statements against Miyas, a term used to refer to Bengali speaking Muslims in Assam. The Miya community in Assam trace their roots to migration during the colonial period and later decades. They face social and political marginalisation, and are often at the centre of debates around citizenship, migration, and electoral politics in the state.
Ahead of the Assam state assembly elections later this year, CM Sarma had called for the people to trouble the Miyas, and harm them economically. Addressing press conferences and public speeches, CM Sarma on multiple occasions (in January 2026) said that the Miyas had illegally enrolled themselves in the Assam electorate and should be boycotted. They should vote in Bangladesh, not in Assam, he added, also mentioning that SIR (Special intensive revision of electoral rolls) in future would remove about 4-5 lakh Miyas from Assam’s voter roll.
While Himanta Biswa Sarma has clarified that he was referring to Bangladeshi illegal immigrants, opposition leaders claimed he targeted the Muslim community in Assam.
The legislative assembly elections in Assam are expected to be held in March-April 2026. The tussle between the ruling NDA led by BJP and ruling INDIA led by Congress is witnessing a back and forth exchange of sharp critiques and remarks. Himanta Biswa Sarma held a press conference on Sunday, February 8, 2026, and stated that Gaurav Gogoi, the deputy leader of opposition in Assam Vidhan Sabha, and his wife Elizabeth Colburn were Pakistani agents.
CM Sarma alleged that Gaurav Gogoi had connections with a Pakistani national Ali Tauqueer Sheikh, and he passed secret and sensitive information related to India’s national security to Pakistan. BJP Assam has been extensively using #PakAgentGaurav on their X handle BJP4Assam, and even organised protests across 39 districts against Gaurav Gogoi.
Dilip Saikia, BJP MP and state president for Assam BJP addressed a protest in Dibrugarh on February 8, 2026, stating that the allegations against Gogoi are serious and must be thoroughly investigated. “Unless Gaurav Gogoi apologises to 140 crore Indians, we will consider him a traitor and anti-national,” he said.
Countering CM Sarma’s allegations, Gaurav Gogoi has stated that the allegations against him were false and baseless, and no concrete evidence was provided by CM Sarma proving that he was a Pakistani agent. In a post on X dated February 8, 2026, he said: “Himanta Biswa Sarma has embarrassed himself on the stage in front of local and national media. After 2.5 hours press conference even the journalists in the room remain unconvinced. Nobody in Assam is taking his words seriously”.
Gaurav Gogoi also mentioned that CM Sarma was trying to change political narrative and diversion from the fact that he had acquired about 4000 acres of prime property across Assam.
Calling CM Sarma’s press conference a C grade cinema, he described the press conference as a ridiculous spectacle, saying it embarrassed both local and national journalists. He alleged that the event was filled with baseless and incoherent claims, and contrasted it with his Xomoy Parivartan Yatra, which he said had exposed the Chief Minister and his family’s alleged occupation of around 12,000 bighas of land.
Supporting Gaurav Gogoi, several opposition leaders in Assam including Raijor Dal MLA Akhil Gogoi and Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP) president Lurinjyoti Gogoi asked that if CM Sarma had definitive proof of Gogoi being a Pakistani agent, why was no FIR registered or arrest made?
Overall, the controversy has further sharpened Assam’s already polarised political climate ahead of the 2026 Assembly elections. With the AI-generated video withdrawn but unanswered questions lingering, opposition parties continue to accuse the BJP and CM Himanta Biswa Sarma of communal provocation, while the ruling party denies wrongdoing and escalates its attacks on political rivals.
(GP)
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