Guwahati: Tarun Gogoi, the longest-serving chief minister of Assam who was the mainstay of the state’s political scene for nearly two decades, died Monday at the Guwahati Medical College and Hospital (GMCH). He was 86.
The veteran Congressman was rushed to GMCH on 2 November due to post-Covid complications, just a week after he was released. He was first admitted to the hospital on 26 August after testing positive for Covid-19.
In his last public message released by his son and Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi on 4 November, the former CM said, “I wouldn’t have been able to serve without the blessings of God and the people of Assam. I hope you will always love me. The love and support has been constant in Titabor, Jorhat (Upper Assam).
“I hope the youth, the students, the tea garden workers, the farmers and weavers, those engaged in small businesses — you will continue to bless me, your love has kept me going and in future I wish to continue serving this way,” Gogoi said in a feeble voice in the two-minute video.
Gogoi held the Assam CM office from 2001 until 2016 — the longest tenure for any chief minister in the state.
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Political journey
Tarun Gogoi was born on 11 October 1934 into an ethnic Assamese Tai Ahom family at Rangajan Tea Estate in erstwhile Sivasagar, now the Jorhat district of Assam. His father, Dr Kamaleshwar Gogoi was a medical practitioner at the estate and his mother, Usha Gogoi, was a poet.
He graduated from Jagannath Barooah College in Jorhat, after which he moved to complete his LLB from Gauhati University. He married Dolly Gogoi, a zoology post-graduate from the same university, in July 1972.
As leader of the Congress party in Assam for over 50 years, Gogoi was first elected joint secretary of the All India Congress Committee (AICC) in 1976 under Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. He later served as general secretary of the AICC (1985–90) under Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.
Gogoi served six terms as a Lok Sabha MP from Assam. He first represented Jorhat for three terms between 1971 and 1985. He was later elected from Kaliabor in 1991-96 and then 1998-2002. The Kaliabor seat is currently held by his son Gaurav Gogoi.
Rarest of leaders
Among rarest of political leaders, Gogoi then won three consecutive mandates before losing to the BJP’s Sarbananda Sonowal in 2016.
Gogoi represented the Titabor constituency in Upper Assam’s Jorhat district. He served four terms as MLA in the Assam legislature. He also served as president of Assam Pradesh Congress Committee from 1986-1990, and was re-elected in 1996.
He never remained away from public eye despite his many illnesses. He underwent a complex bypass surgery and aortic valve replacement at the age of 74 in 2010. In 2006, he had a double pacemaker implant.
A man of all seasons, Gogoi retained his simplicity, a trait that made him largely accessible to fans and followers. Be it the young college students who requested him for countless selfies on Saraswati Puja or a Bihu dance together — the silver-haired, consummate Assamese politician was ever present with a beaming smile.
Now, tributes are flowing in from all quarters. Speaking to journalists in Guwahati, singer Zubeen Garg said, “He was not a politician, but a humanitarian.”
Gogoi is survived by his two children — Chandrima Gogoi and Gaurav Gogoi, and two grandchildren.
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Charges of promoting son
Days before he took ill in August, Gogoi and his former aide-turned-rival, state Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had a heated exchange over the ex-CM ridiculing the former Congress leader for “backstabbing” him. Sarma responded by saying, “Tarun Gogoi at his age should have prayers on his lips.”
Sarma moved to the BJP in 2015 when he and Gogoi failed to resolve their differences. Gogoi was accused of ignoring young leaders in the party and making way for his son. However, Sarma visited him at the hospital several times during treatment in the last few months.
“Tarun Gogoi’s first term as Chief Minister was very successful. Perhaps he tried to promote his son Gaurav Gogoi too early and it caused resentment among some younger aspirants for the leadership in his party and his third term became contentious,” said former Assam director general of police Harekrishna Deka.
In 2016, the BJP came to power in the state under Sarbananda Sonowal. Sarma was named the health minister.
Now, there are questions on whether his son Gaurav can lead the Congress to victory again and regain the lost trust of voters in Assam.
“Gaurav Gogoi started as a greenhorn but within years he has proved his capability as a parliamentarian. The Congress fortune being at the nadir of election politics under the present high command, it is yet not clear how far Gaurav can realise his full potential in the present situation. But he has capability,” said Deka.
“The Congress in Assam is a divided house, it will be challenge for the party, but Gaurav has age on his side and in the long run should do very well as politician. His performance as a parliamentarian is good,” said political analyst Shyamkanu Mahanta.
Besides dissidence within the Congress, Gogoi also faced the 2008 serial bomb blasts orchestrated by the NDFB, in which 88 people lost their lives and 141 others were injured, and issues like inflation, corruption, floods, illegal immigration and high instances of rhino poaching.
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Public persona
As a chief minister, Tarun Gogoi was often unguarded in his opinions, but it was his way to use ridicule as strategy to target the opposition that remained his signature.
“People criticised us during our time, but never did anyone wave black flags at me this way. And so many black flags…” he said during one of his media interactions last year, taking a dig at Sonowal for facing black flags during the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protests.
Commenting on the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre during the protests, Gogoi had said, “If the government is ignoring the sentiments of the people, it means they are dictators. In democracy, a leader listens to the voices of the people, or tries to convince them. But this government is ignoring the wishes of people despite knowing what they want.”
According to Deka, Gogoi was often “misunderstood by the people because of his facile comments on complex issues but the practice he seemed to have deliberately cultivated was to create space for serious contemplation undisturbed”.
“He is actually a seasoned politician and he understood Assam politics and its complexity quite well,” he said.
“He had the mental strength to stand his ground when he differed with the High Command and it stood in good stead for him. He was a statesman, but with a glib tongue that seemed to go contradictory to his stature. But that tongue was deliberately cultivated,” Deka added.
Party worker
Gogoi remained the dominant figure in opposition who tried to keep his party together despite fissures within the state Congress unit. His last announcement of the party’s willingness to tie up with Badruddin Ajmal’s AIUDF for next year’s assembly polls was widely criticised with supporters in Upper Assam ready to withdraw support.
The Congress-AIUDF alliance still awaits the Congress High Command nod, but Ajmal who visited Gogoi at the GMCH earlier said he was hopeful of a formal tie-up after Gogoi’s recovery.
During the anti-CAA protests by the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU), Gogoi even shared stage with once-arch rival and two-time CM Prafulla Kumar Mahanta during a demonstration, holding hands for a cause that failed to see a conclusion.
“In spite of his old age, Tarun Gogoi remained the tallest leader of Congress in Assam and had acceptability all across people. He was tolerant, approachable and kept himself clean which have endeared him to masses,” said Mahanta.
In recent years, Gogoi also held the highest number of press meets among opposition leaders.
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