Guwahati, October 3, 2026: Senior Congress leader and former Union External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid on Friday mounted a fierce and multi-pronged attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party-led central and Assam governments, raising serious concerns over the autonomy of the Election Commission of India, the incomplete National Register of Citizens (NRC) process, widespread eviction drives, alleged fake encounters, and the erosion of constitutional rights of citizens in the state.
Addressing a press conference at Rajiv Bhawan in Guwahati, the senior jurist and Congress leader alleged that recent internal decisions within the Election Commission had been taken unilaterally by the Chief Election Commissioner, overriding the recorded dissent of two fellow Election Commissioners. He noted that this matter is currently pending before the Supreme Court. Quoting Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Khurshid asserted: “No matter how high a constitutional position you hold, no one is above the law; everyone must remain accountable before the law.”
Turning his attention to the upcoming assembly by-election, Khurshid specifically targeted the BJP’s candidate and former District Commissioner Devashish Sharma. He accused Sharma of having taken arbitrary decisions to deport legitimate citizens purely for political expediency. “The courts have also questioned the current status of two women expelled to Bangladesh due to such decisions. Tragically, the ruling party has nominated such an official,” Khurshid said. He contrasted this with the Congress candidate and former MLA Sibamoni Bora, whom he credited with a record of transparent public service.
On the National Register of Citizens, Khurshid provided a detailed historical and legal context. He recalled that the NRC process was initiated under the late Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi in accordance with the Assam Accord, with 1971 as the cut-off year. He pointed out that despite the Supreme Court-monitored final list published in 2019, nearly 3.11 crore individuals who were included in the list are yet to receive their National Identity Cards under Rule 13. Simultaneously, more than 19 lakh people who were excluded continue to await the mandatory rejection slips that would allow them to file appeals. Khurshid issued a strong caution that any unilateral attempt to tamper with the NRC would amount to contempt of the apex court’s directives.
The Congress leader expressed sharp indignation over the series of eviction drives carried out across Assam. He specifically cited recent operations in Goalpara, Golaghat, the Rengma Reserve Forest, and the September 2024 eviction in Sonapur’s Kachutoli, where two individuals died in police firing. “Demolishing homes and evicting people is sheer cruelty, but snatching away their voting rights and stripping them of their citizenship thereafter is the ultimate blow to democracy,” Khurshid declared. He asserted that denying displaced individuals the right to voter registration at their relocated sites violates Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution.
On the issue of law and order, Khurshid highlighted data that had been placed before the courts, stating that 171 police encounters took place in Assam between May 2021 and August 2022. These encounters resulted in 56 deaths, four custodial deaths, and 145 injuries. He stressed that extrajudicial killings have no place in a civilised society governed by the rule of law. He further flagged the practice of pushbacks into Bangladesh without due process, referring to assembly data that showed 3,697 deportations over the past two years without formal notices being issued.
Addressing the broader national political scenario, Khurshid spoke about the need for greater unity within the INDIA bloc. Invoking former US President John F. Kennedy, he remarked: “Rather than asking what the alliance can do for us, every leader today needs to realise what they can contribute to the alliance.” On the Uniform Civil Code, he dismissed it as a “diversionary tactic,” arguing that such a code cannot be imposed arbitrarily without taking into account the rulings of the Supreme Court’s nine-judge bench and the country’s diverse cultural fabric.
Earlier in the briefing, Khurshid paid homage to Mahatma Gandhi and Lal Bahadur Shastri on their birth anniversaries and congratulated Assam boxer Lovlina Borgohain for winning a gold medal at the Asian Games. Senior Congress leaders, including former MP Abdul Khaleque and former MLA Diganta Barman, were also present at the press conference.
