Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, during a press conference held at Lok Sewa Bhawan in Dispur today, raised concerns about the sudden activation of thousands of suspicious Facebook accounts ahead of the upcoming elections in the state.
Speaking to reporters, the Chief Minister stated, "Around 5,000 Facebook accounts have suddenly become active. These accounts are linked to a particular community, but most of them are operated from outside India."
He claimed that these profiles predominantly share content related to Assam's elections and promote a particular political party, while refraining from commenting on national political figures like Prime Minister Narendra Modi or Rahul Gandhi.
"They only post hardcore Islamic fundamentalist content, often mixing it with political narratives around Assam. When not posting about Assam, they share content related to Iran, Iraq, Palestine, or religious subjects like Umrah," Mr Sarma added.
According to the Assam Chief Minister, many of these accounts are newly created and often list their location as IIT Guwahati to gain credibility.
"We checked with IIT Guwahati and found no record of such individuals. Two of the exposed accounts were traced back to Bangladesh and Pakistan. It seems they use false identities and addresses to mislead the public," he said.
The Chief Minister said his team has flagged these activities and that the individuals behind such accounts are "under the government's radar."
He also hinted at a possible local connection in Guwahati, mentioning the GS Road and Kharghuli areas, though details remained unclear.
"This has been going on for about a month now. I won't name anyone, but we are closely monitoring the situation. These people are connected through WhatsApp or Telegram groups. They become active especially after any controversial incident," he said.
