Tarun Gogoi is an Indian politician who served as the Chief Minister of Assam from 2001 to 2016. He is a member of the Indian National Congress and led the party to a record three consecutive electoral victories in Assam. He completed 15 consecutive years as Chief Minister of Assam on 18 May 2016 as the longest serving Chief Minister of the state.
Early life
Gogoi was born on 11 October 1934 into an ethnic Assamese Tai-Ahom family at Rangajan Tea Estate, erstwhile Sivasagar District, now the Jorhat District of Assam. His father, Dr Kamaleshwar Gogoi was a medical practitioner at Rangajan Tea Estate and his mother, Usha Gogoi, younger sister of the renowned poet Ganesh Gogoi, was known for her collection of poetry, Hiyar Samahar. Fondly called Punakon by his parents, Tarun Gogoi began his primary education at the No.26 Rangajan Nimna Buniyadi Vidyalaya. From there he moved on to Jorhat Madrassa School where he studied up to class IV, and then moved to Bholaguri High School located near Badulipar Tea Estate where he studied till class VI. In 1949, young Gogoi was enrolled at the Jorhat Government High School, from where he passed the HSLC Examination. He did his graduation from Jagannath Barooah College, located at Jorhat District, of Assam and after that he did LLB from Gauhati University, Assam. He is designated as an alumnus of the prestigious Jagannath Barooah College, Jorhat.
Personal life
Tarun Gogoi married Dolly Gogoi on 30 July 1972. Dolly Gogoi is a post-graduate in Zoology from Gauhati University. They have two children; daughter Chandrima Gogoi, an MBA and son, Gaurav Gogoi, a member of parliament from Kaliabar, who holds a degree in Public Administration from New York University.
Political career
Gogoi has served six terms as a Member of Parliament from the Lok Sabha. He first represented Jorhat in 1971–85. Later Gogoi was elected from Kaliabor. The Kaliabor seat is currently held by his son Gaurav Gogoi. Gogoi became a political leader with national stature after he was elected Joint Secretary of the All India Congress Committee in 1976 under Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. He later served as General Secretary of the AICC under Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. Gogoi served in the Union Cabinet of India under Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao as Union Minister of State in the Food and Food Processing Industry departments. Gogoi served as the President of the Assam Pradesh Congress Committee in 1986–90. He was elected to a second term as President in 1996. Gogoi has since served four terms as a Member of Legislative Assembly in the legislature of Assam. He first represented Margherita constituency in the legislature in 1996–98. Gogoi has represented the Titabar constituency since 2001. Gogoi was elected Chief Minister of Assam in 2001 after he led the Indian National Congress to victory in the state elections. He has since led the party to a record three consecutive electoral victories in the state as Chief Minister. But outcome of the recent Lok Sabha has put him in hard time managing his own cabinet colleagues. Congress won only three out of 14 Lok Sabha seats from Assam. On the other hand, BJP got seven seats, which is the highest number of seats won by the party in any Lok Sabha election in Assam. Before the election, Gogoi had declared that he would resign from the post of Chief Minister if the Congress party won less than seven out of 14 Lok Sabha seats. In July 2014, Gogoi indicated that he might not lead the party in the 2016 Assembly elections.
