Guwahati: Around 1,000 social media accounts suspected to have links with Pakistan and Bangladesh are under investigation by the state police, Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Wednesday.

“I have asked the special branch (of Assam Police) to look at over 2,000 accounts on Facebook who are commenting on social media platforms on Assam election. Half of those accounts are from Bangladesh and Pakistan,” Sarma said, after attending a cabinet meeting.

The CM said that these accounts on platforms like Facebook were allegedly opened by members of a particular community on a single day keeping the next year’s assembly elections in the state in mind.

“The number will increase as the election nears as Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) wants somebody to win. If you read the comments, you will notice that those don’t have names of our people. I will reveal more details on September 10,” he added,

The CM was referring to the date when the special investigation team (SIT) of state police is slated to make public its report on alleged links of MP and newly appointed Assam Congress president, Gaurav Gogoi, and his British wife to the military and intelligence establishments of Pakistan.

Gogoi, who represents the Jorhat Lok Sabha seat in Assam, has denied the accusations and urged Sarma to make public details of the investigation earlier than the stipulated date. He has, however, admitted to visiting Pakistan in 2013 (before he had become an MP) while his wife Elizabeth was posted there with an NGO that works on climate change.

Sarma said that there was no competition with Congress or any other party for next year’s assembly polls in the state as no one can match Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s development work and the goodwill for Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“Nationalism, identity and development are BJP’s planks. But on the other hand, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is supporting Pakistan (on the issue of Operation Sindoor),” the CM said.

“People of Assam are aware and they know that only BJP can protect the interests of indigenous people of the state and supports its policies like action against child marriages, evictions of illegal encroachers from ‘satras’ (Vaishnavite monasteries),” he added.

Sarma said that in the past few days, the Assam government has pushed back an unspecified number of suspected Bangladeshis to the neighbouring country.

“Could any Assamese have imagined that we would push back Bangladeshis? I will give you the number later. In the past one month, we have pushed back many of them saying they can’t stay here. Only BJP can do such a thing because we know what Assamese people want,” he said.