Tarun Gogoi: A visionary leader

The demise of former Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi at the age of 86 years marked the closure of an eventful chapter of the state's post-independence political history and governance. His meteoric rise as a stalwart in Indian politics also brought the most significant turnaround in the state and beginning the building of a modern and prosperous Assam that was ravaged by decades of insurgency, ethnic conflict, and political turmoil. He scripted the history of holding the office of the Chief Minister for the longest period of 15 years despite the odds of dissidence and persistence of socio-economic problems during his three consecutive terms. This achievement speaks volume of his political acumen which his detractors also even not shy away from acknowledging. For the Congress party, it is a great void that will remain unfulfilled. His policy of simultaneously pursuing the agenda of peace and development brought around the turn around law-and-order situation in the state as it shifted the focus of governance to development to wean away public support to the insurgent groups. He proved his mettle as a strong leader of opposition and successfully articulated the campaign against the Asom Gana Parishad-led government on the issue of "secret killing" to steer his party to a massive victory in 2001. The residual fear and apprehension of "secret killing" gave way to hope for rapid stride in peace and progress. Investments flowed in.

Central funding for development projects increased. Gogoi focused on building roads, women empowerment more particularly in rural areas and improving the connectivity. It improved the access of rural famers, traders to the markets and trade centres which put the spotlight on development and turned away their attention from insurgent groups who they had pinned the hopes for their better days. Gogoi's contribution in changing the mindset of the people, more particularly, youth making them realise the futility of mindless violence laid the foundation of an Assam on the path of peace and progress. This gradually increased the acceptance of the Congress party in the state which the party was looking at ever since it lost the popularity during the Assam Movement and failed to regain it even after capturing power at Dispur for a term 1991-1996 in between two terms of AGP-led regional party governments. Gogoi crafted his return to state politics after being a Union Minister in 1996 as the president of the Assam Pradesh Congress Committee for the second term carefully as he could foresee the potentiality of the acceptance of the challenge of reviving the grand old party against resurgence of regionalism. The challenge he had overcome catapulted him to the Indian mainstream politics from a peripheral state which he had failed to achieve during his stint as a Union Minister. He tried to shape and also succeeded to some extent in shaping a regional face of the national party by harping on the state issues more and pushing his government's demand for more central funding for development.

This helped the Congress gradually displace AGP as the champion of regional cause even though the problems like flood and erosion, sealing of India-Bangladesh border, implementation of the Assam Accord, ethnic issues remained unresolved. The dissidence in his last term left the Congress party weakened but not Gogoi. The Congress High Command continued to rely on him for the final word on formulating strategy for the party to rise again after being decimated by rise of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and installation of the BJP-led coalition government stopping the Gogoi juggernaut in Assam politics. He jumped on the bandwagon against Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 to bring back his party to the centre-stage of political discourse and pushed the narrative of the grand alliance of opposition parties in a bid to consolidate on the party's gains on the movement against the amendment in the citizenship laws. His ailment due to COVID-19 infection slowed down the idea of grand alliance and his demise has now raised a question mark over the idea. A void of an absence of a master political strategist in the opposition camp in Assam politics has been created by his departure. His candidness on issues of governance and politics despite being the longest-serving chief minister made him a popular leader. His frank and openness on public policy matters brought Gogoi closer to the heart of people which helped him repair the dent the corruption allegations against some of his ministerial colleagues and officials caused on the government and party during his tenure. His policy of creation of development councils for smaller ethnic communities shaped new response to the movement for autonomy by ethnic communities. Gogoi was also a strong defender of the rights of linguistic and religious minorities which helped him gained popularity across communities. Assam will remember Tarun Gogoi as a visionary leader.