Tarun Gogoi

Tarun Gogoi (1 April 1936 – 23 November 2020) was an Indian politician and lawyer who served as the 13th Chief Minister of Assam from 2001 to 2016.

He was the longest serving Chief Minister of Assam.

He was a member of the Indian National Congress.

During his tenure as the chief minister, he is credited with ending militant insurgency and mitigating violence in addition to improving the state's fiscal condition.

Tarun Gogoi was born on 1st of April 1936 into an ethnic Assamese Tai-Ahom family at Rangajan Tea Estate, erstwhile Sibsagar District, now the Jorhat District of Assam.

His father, Kamaleshwar Gogoi was a medical practitioner at Rangajan Tea Estate

His mother, Usha Gogoi, was the younger sister of the Assamese poet Ganesh Gogoi.

He is the elder brother and best friend of Assamese veteran film producer Paran Barbarooah.

He is also the uncle of Assamese Film director Prerana Barbarooah.

He is the elder brother of Dip Gogoi, who also served as Member of Parliament for Kaliabor and Member of Assam Legislstive Assembly for Titabar.

He began his primary education at No. 26 Rangajan Nimna Buniyadi Vidyalaya (lower foundation school), before moving on to Jorhat Madrassa School (through class IV), and Bholaguri High School (through class VI).

He passed his Higher Secondary School Certificate (HSLC) from the Jorhat Government High School, before graduating from the Jagannath Barooah College.

He obtained his Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree from the Gauhati University.

Gogoi started his political career as a member of the municipal board at Jorhat in 1968 before being elected to the Fifth Lok Sabha in 1971 from Jorhat.

During his second term in the Lok Sabha, he was elected as the Joint Secretary of the All India Congress Committee (AICC) in 1976 under Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

He represented Jorhat in Lok Sabha through the next two terms until 1985.

He later served as the General Secretary of the AICC, from 1985 to 1990, under Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.

He served as the President of the Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) between 1986 and 1990, before being appointed as the President again in 1996.

Through has state legislative career he served four terms as a Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA).

He was the member of Lok Sabha representing Kaliabor from 1991 to 1996 and again from 1998 to 2001 and Jorhat constituency from 1971 to 1984.

He represented Kaliabor in the Tenth Lok Sabha between 1991 and 1996, and the Twelfth and Thirteenth Lok Sabha between 1998 and 2001.

He served in the Union Cabinet of India under Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao as the Union Minister of State in the Ministry of Food Processing Industries between 1991 and 1996.

He was a member of the Committee on Government Assurances, Consultative Committee, Union Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, and Committee on External Affairs in the Tenth Lok Sabha.

In the Thirteenth Lok Sabha he was a member of the Committee on Railways.

He was also Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Food and Processing Industries in the P. V. Narasimha Rao ministry from 1993 to 1995.

He was posthumously awarded the Padma Bhushan, India's third-highest civilian honour, in 2021.

He first represented the Margherita constituency between 1996 and 1998, and the Titabar constituency since 2001.

He was the member of the Assam Legislative Assembly from 2001 to until his death in 2020 from Titabar constituency and from Margherita constituency from 1996 to 1998.

He quit the Thirteenth Lok Sabha, mid-term, to assume office as the Chief Minister of Assam in 2001, serving a total of six terms as a member of parliament.

Gogoi lead the Indian National Congress in the 2001 Assam Legislative Assembly election, with congress securing 70 seats in the Assembly.

On 18 May 2001, Gogoi was unanimously elected leader of the Congress legislative party and was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Assam.

He succeeded the Asom Gana Parishad government led by Prafulla Kumar Mahanta.

Gogoi was faced with the onerous task of bringing the state out of the morass of militant violence and financial instability characterised by a huge debt burden with even government employees not receiving their salaries on time.

During the ministry self employment schemes to counter terrorism, the Police Commission for smooth functioning of administration of State, the Chief Vigilance Commission to prevent corruption and the right to information bill were all established.

On 6 August 2003, a motion of no-confidence was filed against the ministry of Gogoi jointly by AGP, BJP and ASDC.

Initiating the discussion, Brindaban Goswami said that the people of Assam had brought the Congress to power expecting a clean and transparent Government.

But, the present Government had drowned into several corruption scandals.

He also referred to the ethnic conflict between the Demasa-Hmar group and alleged that the law and order situation had worsened in the last two years.

Consequently, innocent people had been killed.

Opposition parties were not allowed to function freely and even the party office of BJP was ransacked by miscreants in broad daylight.