Tarun Gogoi (1 April 1936 – 23 November 2020) was an Indian politician who served as the Chief Minister of Assam from 2001 to 2016. He was a member of the Indian National Congress and led the party to a record three consecutive electoral victories and was the longest serving chief minister of the state. 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.
He also served six terms as a Member of parliament, Lok Sabha and served as a Union Minister of State in the Ministry of Food and Ministry of Food Processing Industries. He was posthumously awarded the Padma Bhushan, India’s third-highest civilian honor, in 2021.
Early life
Gogoi was born on 1 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 and his mother, Usha Gogoi, was the younger sister of the Assamese poet Ganesh Gogoi. 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.
Political career
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. He represented Jorhat in Lok Sabha through the next two terms until 1985. He represented Kaliabor in the Tenth Lok Sabha between 1991 and 1996, and the Twelfth and Thirteenth Lok Sabha between 1998 and 2001. 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.
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 later served as the General Secretary of the AICC, from 1985 to 1990, under Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. 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 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 first represented the Margherita constituency between 1996 and 1998, and the Titabar constituency since 2001.
He was elected Chief Minister of Assam in 2001, after leading the Indian National Congress to victory in the legislative assembly elections and led the party to a record three consecutive electoral victories in the state, emerging as the longest serving chief minister of the state in a tenure from 2001 through 2016. Stemming from dissent within the party that saw 32 MLAs resign, he could not get the Indian National Congress to victory in the 2016 legislative assembly elections. Sarbananda Sonowal from the Bharatiya Janata Party went on to win the elections and become the chief minister.
Political legacy
In his career as the chief minister of Assam, Tarun Gogoi is credited with having brought the many militant outfits operating in the state including the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) to the negotiating table and mitigating militant insurgency within the state. It is noted that when he started his tenure, militant insurgency was at the peak in the State with multiple bomb blasts in Guwahati triggered by ULFA, riots and violent demands for accession in the Bodoland Territorial Region, and militant attacks on Hindi speakers. By the time he ended his tenure as the chief minister, an improved law and order and a relatively violence free tenure were considered his legacy.
He is also credited with improving the state’s fiscal position, getting the state out from close to bankruptcy, and engineering an economic turnaround in the implementation of various state government led relief schemes, particularly for the rural areas. His initiation of development projects in the state are credited with having stopped the flight of capital out of the state.
Updating of the National Register of Citizens for Assam began during his tenure as the chief minister.
Gogoi was posthumously included in the list of Padma Bhushan awardees, India’s third highest civilian honor, for 2021.
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Personal life
Gogoi married Dolly Gogoi, a post-graduate in Zoology from Gauhati University, on 30 July 1972. The couple have two children, a daughter, Chandrima Gogoi, an MBA, and a son, Gaurav Gogoi, a member of parliament from Kaliabor. His son holds a degree in Public administration from the New York University. His profile at the state legislature has him marked as a hobby Golfer.
He had had multiple heart surgeries during the latter part of his second term as the chief minister, including Bypass surgery, Aortic valve replacement, and a procedure to artificially enlarge the aorta, at Mumbai’s Asian Heart Institute. He had an additional surgery just before the elections for his third term in 2011, to replace his Artificial cardiac pacemaker. Gogoi had gone on to lead his party to a third term victory, recovering from these health issues.
He died on 23 November 2020 at the Gauhati Medical College and Hospital due to COVID-19 induced complications and multiple organ failure. Earlier, he was hospitalized on 26 August 2020, with COVID-19 and had been given a blood plasma transplant.