Tarun Gogoi: A Congress Stalwart Who Guided Grand Old Party Grow Tall In Northeast

Tarun Gogoi was born on 11 October 1934 in Jorhat district of Assam. A six-time Lok Sabha MP, the Congress' veteran led the grand old party to a record three consecutive electoral victories in Assam.

Photo: @srinivasiyc (Twitter)

Veteran Congress leader and three time former Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi passed on Monday in Guwahati, leaving behind a huge void in the political corridors of Indian politics. The 86 year old senior politician was was undergoing treatment at the Gauhati Medical College Hospital. He had been on ventilator after battle with novel Covid-19 and breathed his last at 5.34 PM on Monday at GMCH. Gogoi had recovered earlier from Covid but had comorbidities. He had tested positive for COVID-19 on August 25 and admitted to the GMCH the next day. Assam’s longest-serving chief minister was again rushed to the hospital due to post-Covid complications. Gogoi was admitted on November 2 after he complained of breathlessness. He suffered multiple organ failures and on Sunday, doctors performed dialysis on him as he was unable to pass urine naturally due to kidney problem.

Tarun Gogoi's Journey From A Law Student To Three-Time Assam Chief Minister

Tarun Gogoi was born on 11 October 1934 in Jorhat district of Assam. His father Dr Kamaleshwar Gogoi was a medical practitioner at the tea estate and his mother Usha Gogoi, was known for collecting poetry. Gogoi was law degree holder who had completed his LLB from Gauhati University, Assam in 1963. Last year, Gogoi attended Supreme Court proceedings as a lawyer in hearings of batch of petitions against the constitutional validity of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act. A six-time Lok Sabha MP, the Congress' veteran led the grand old party to a record three consecutive electoral victories in Assam in 2001, 2006, and 2011, and served as the chief minister of the state for 15 years (2001-2016), thus becoming the longest-serving chief minister of the state. In his political career spanning over 50 years, Gogoi assumed varied positions within the Congress party, central government as well as Assam’s state administration. Gogoi has served as the joint secretary of All India congress Committee in 1976 and Assam’s Pradesh Congress Committee President from 1986-91.