Guwahati: The BJP’s Assam unit on Saturday posted a controversial and hateful video on social media showing Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma symbolically firing at Muslims, triggering a political storm before it was taken down hours later.

The video, shared on X, carried captions such as “point blank range” and combined what appeared to be real footage of the Chief Minister handling firearms with AI-generated visuals that portrayed Muslims as targets. It was deleted after widespread outrage erupted over its content.

Trinamool Congress MP Sagarika Ghose condemned the video, calling it shameful and demanding the arrest of its creator. “Shameful. Whoever has made this ad needs to be IMMEDIATELY arrested,” Ghose said, urging Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw to intervene.

After the video was removed, Ghose said deleting the post did not absolve the BJP of responsibility. “The @BJP4India Assam has committed a UAPA offence and is guilty of clear incitement to violence. Can’t get away with deleting the ad. Also attracts 152, 156 and 192 BNS. Exemplary punishment must be given in this case,” she said.

The controversy comes amid a parallel political row triggered by Sarma’s allegations against Congress MP and Assam Congress chief Gaurav Gogoi. The Chief Minister has accused Gogoi of having visited Pakistan clandestinely in 2013 without informing authorities and alleged that he may have undergone “some kind of training there”.

Earlier, Gogoi alleged that Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma's family had grabbed around 12,000 bighas (over 3,960 acres) of land across the state

Addressing a press conference ahead of the upcoming Assembly elections, Sarma also alleged that Gogoi’s British wife, Elizabeth, collected information about India while working at a firm in the country and passed it on to Pakistan. He further claimed that she had travelled to Pakistan nine times while working with two Indian organisations.

The Assam government had constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the alleged anti-India conspiracy involving Pakistani national Ali Tauqeer Sheikh, allegedly in connivance with Gogoi and his wife. The SIT submitted its report to Sarma.

“We believe a deeper connection among Gaurav, his wife, and Ali Tauqeer Sheikh. We recommend a probe by a central agency,” Sarma said.

He further alleged that a Pakistani firm initially hired Elizabeth and later transferred her to India, claiming that her salary was paid by Sheikh.

Sarma and the BJP have continued to target Gogoi over his wife’s alleged links with Pakistan’s intelligence agency ISI.