Rs 10 cr Govt subsidy to firm belonging to Assam CM’s family? Gaurav Gogoi locked horns with Himanta Biswa Sarma

A series of 14 tweets exchanged between Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi and Assam CM Hemanta Biswa Sharma, took X (formerly known as twitter) by storm. War of words erupted over Rs 10 crore subsidy approved by the Union government to a media company owned by Assam Chief Minister’s family members including his wife. 

“PM Modi launched the Kisan Sampada scheme to double the income of farmers of India. But in Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma used his influence to help his wife’s firm get Rs 10 crore as part of credit linked subsidy. Are Central government schemes meant to enrich BJP ?”, asked Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi over X on Wednesday. He had attached a document with his tweet. 

Hemanta Biswa Sharma has responded to him on X claiming “neither my wife nor the company she is associated with has ever received any financial subsidies from Government of India”

Documents, essentially the response given by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry in Lok Sabha in March 2023, indicate that Government of India had approved Rs 10 crore as grant in aid for a company named Pride East Entertainment Private Limited. As per the corporate affairs records, the directors of this company as registered are Riniki Bhuyan Sarma ,wife of Hemanta Biswa Sharma, his mother Mrinalini Devi, his son Nandil Biswa Sarma and Bhaskar Sarma. Pride East Entertainments Private Limited's Corporate Identification Number is (CIN) U92142AS2006PTC008264 and its registration number is 8264 with registered address at Dispur, Guwahati. Pride East Entertainments Pit Limited is one of the leading media houses in the northeast, that owns two television news channels, a newspaper, a website, and three entertainment channels. Details with Corporate affairs ministry suggest that the company filings claim that company has businesses apart from media that include silk production and food processing. Company website states Rinki Sharma, wife of CM is the CMD there. 

“The Ministry of Food Processing website clearly shows the name of the person and the company she is associated with. The Rs 10 crore government grant has also been approved. Please report to the Union Minister if their website has been hacked” Gaurav Gogoi further tweeted. Hemanta Biswa Sharma later claimed that even if the grant was approved by government of India but funds were never released or received by the firm belonging to his family. He once again stated that as a response to Gaurav Gogoi’s tweet which had the response from Piyun Goyal’s office attached. “The reply itself clarifies the fact that the Government of India has not released any funds to the mentioned company. I want to emphasize once again that neither my wife nor the company she is associated with has received or claimed any amount from the Government of India. If anyone can provide evidence to the contrary, I am willing to accept any punishment including retirement from public life”, he said. 

Interestingly, days back, a noted news website from Assam, Cross Current had reported that Pride East Entertainment acquired around 50 bighas of land in Dari Goji village in Nagaon for a proposed food processing facility on February 4, 2022. According to Cross Current, the land was bought from five people namely Hemachandra Bira, Jatin Chandra Bora, Deben Chandra Bora, Tarini Bora, and Anil Bishwas. The land was meant for agricultural use, excluding only the 2 Kathas portion owned by Anil Bishwas. However, Assam revenue records show that soon after the purchase, on April 19, 2022, the category of the category of the plots was changed from agricultural to industrial, claimed ‘Cross Current’. It was this conversion from agricultural to industrial enabled Pride East Entertainments Pvt limited to become eligible for the Government of India grant in aid. According to Cross Current, the company had proposed a food processing plant at the very location. In follow up tweets Hemanta Biswa Sharma added “I would like to clarify that in this particular case, my wife has not even claimed the subsidy”, but no clarification was given if the subsidy or grant in aid was indeed sought from Government of India by the company that predominantly belonged to his family. 

Hemanta Biswa Sharma has publicly warned of legal action against Gaurav Gogoi but the congress MP said that he was unfazed by such threats.