Gaurishankar Bhattacharyya

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Gaurishankar Bhattacharyya (10 December 1915 - 23 June 2002 [1] - ?) was an Assamese freedom fighter, social activist, litterateur and politician, who served as the Leader of Opposition in the Assam Legislative Assembly.[2]

Early life and education

Bhattacharya was born in Samarkuchi village of Nalbari district to Souridutta Bhattacharyya, a Sanskrit Pandit.[1] He did his undergraduate from Cotton College, and earned a M. A. in history from Presidency College, Kolkata.[1]

Political career

Bhattacharya was active in politics since his student days;[1] in 1939, he was elected as the president of the All Assam Students Federation.[3]

In 1952, Bhattacharya won election to the Assam Legislative Assembly from the Guwahati constituency for the Communist Party of India (CPI) defeating Rajabala Das of the Indian National Congress (INC).[3][a] He was the only legislator from CPI in the House. In 1957, he defended the seat, defeating Lakshmidhar Borah of the INC.[b] However, five years later in 1962, Bhattacharya suffered defeat at the hands of Debendra Nath Sharma, the INC candidate.[c] Months afterward, during the Sino-Indian War, Bhattacharya was subject to preventive detention by the Congress government for his activism; he would leave CPI, shortly.[4]

In the 1967 elections, Bhattacharya stood as an independent candidate from the newly delimited Borbhag constituency and eked out a comfortable win over Pabindra Nath Sarma of the INC.[d] Two years later, Bhattacharya collaborated with Renuka Devi Barkataki, a Congress renegade, to launch the Peoples Democratic Party of Assam (PDPA);[e] it would be the first regional party to contest the assembly elections.[1][5][6] Five years later, Bhattacharya stood as an independent candidate from Borbhag again, and won against Sarma.[f] Bhattacharya became the leader of the Opposition in the Assam Legislative Assembly. The Peoples democratic Party (PDPA) later merged with Janata Party in 1977.[7]

Literature

Bhattacharya moved away from politics in his later life, devoting time to literature; in 1999, he was conferred with the national Sahitya Academy Award (Anubad Suchi Samman) by the Sahitya Akademi for translating B.R. Aggarwalla's Trials of Independence into Assamese.[8]

Personal life

Bhattacharya married Tarulata Bhattacharya; they had three sons — Dibya Shankar Bhattacharya who is a senior Indian Army officer, Dhruba Shankar Bhattacharya (now deceased) and Siddhartha Bhattacharya —, and a daughter — Suprabha Bhattacharya.[9][10] Siddhartha Bhattacharya is a legislator from the Bharatiya Janata Party; Suprabha Bhattacharya's only son is Arnab Goswami, an Indian right-wing news anchor and editor-in-Chief of Republic TV.[1]

Notes

  1. ^ Only 44.41% of the electorate voted in the polls. Bhattacharya secured 5505 votes, winning by a margin of 213.
  2. ^ Only 52.08% of the electorate voted in the polls. Bhattacharya secured 14,182 votes, winning by a margin of 973.
  3. ^ Only 58.39% of the electorate voted in the polls. Bhattacharya secured 8560 votes, losing by a margin of 5487.
  4. ^ Only 46.4% of the electorate voted in the polls. Bhattacharya secured 14,772 votes, winning by a margin of 4346.
  5. ^ Not to be confused with Hill State People's Democratic Party, formed in Assam around the same time.
  6. ^ Only 52.8% of the electorate voted in the polls. Bhattacharya secured 14,772 votes, winning by a margin of 629.

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Desk, Sentinel Digital (2015-12-10). "My Koka: Gaurisankar Bhattacharyya - Sentinelassam". www.sentinelassam.com. Retrieved 2022-12-06.
  2. ^ Goswami, Arnab. "The Soil Beckons". Outlook.
  3. ^
    ISBN 9788178357423
    .
  4. ^ Chetia, Bonojit Hussain and Mayur. "Amalendu Guha (1924-2015): Lifelong revolutionary, peoples' historian, life-affirming poet". Scroll.in. Retrieved 2022-12-06.
  5. ISBN 978-81-8324-281-3
    .
  6. ^ Kakati, Satishchandra (1996). Problems of North-East. Guwahati: Assam Book Depot. p. 66.
  7. ISBN 9788183700801
    .
  8. ^ "..:: SAHITYA : Akademi Awards ::." sahitya-akademi.gov.in. Retrieved 2022-12-06.
  9. ^ NEWS, NE NOW (2018-04-26). "Know Your New Minister Siddhartha Bhattacharyya". NORTHEAST NOW. Retrieved 2022-12-06.
  10. ^ Gohain, Chandan B. (2021-05-03). "From dissent to democracy in Assam: Akhil Gogoi now faces a new challenge". EastMojo. Retrieved 2022-12-06.
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