Prafulla Kumar Mahanta
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Prafulla Kumar Mahanta | |
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Nowgong | |
Personal details | |
Born | Nagaon, Assam, India | 23 December 1952
Political party | Asom Gana Parishad |
Other political affiliations | National Democratic Alliance North-East Democratic Alliance |
Spouse | Joyasree Goswami Mahanta |
Children | 3 |
Parents |
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Prafulla Kumar Mahanta (born 23 December 1952) is an Indian politician who was the leader of the
Early life and education
Prafulla Kumar Mahanta was born on the 23 December 1952 to Late Lakshmi Prova Mahanta and Late Deba Kanta Mahanta(1923-2022), at Village-Uluoni, Ruparayan Satra Kaliabor, Nagaon.[3] He earned a bachelor's degree in law from Gauhati University.[4]
Political career
During his time as a student, he became active in politics, and in 1979 he was named the president of the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU), an influential organization in the state. That year the AASU embarked on a popular agitation against illegal immigrants from Bangladesh that lasted until 1985. The movement, spearheaded by Mahanta, made him from being the leader of a student organization to becoming an influential politician. He was a major factor in the formation of the AGP in October 1985 and was elected the party's first president.
Mahanta was first elected to the
.On 4 September 2010 he was again unanimously elected as the
On 21 October 2013, representatives from eleven political parties of the North-east region met to form a new political front, the North-East Regional Political Front (NERPF), to protect the interests of the region's people. Mahanta was appointed the front's chief adviser.[6]
On 14 July 2014 he resigned as president of
He did not run in the 2021 Assam Legislative Assembly Election after differences with his party. However, the cause might also have been his health and whether or not he could campaign.[7]
Chief Ministership
Following an AGP resurgence in the 1996 state assembly elections, Mahanta became the chief minister for a second time. That tenure became highly controversial, especially after the revelation of a counterinsurgency strategy that allegedly was under the direction of Mahanta. In June 1997 the ULFA staged an attack on Mahanta, after which the police coerced ULFA cadres who had surrendered to the authorities to kill family members of active insurgents. An official commission that later was to investigate the killings and it concluded in 2007 that Mahanta was directly responsible for the policy. Also during his second administration, Mahanta was alleged to have been involved in a corruption scandal involving fraudulent letters of credit and avoided prosecution only through the intervention of the governor of Assam. Investigation of the matter was reopened in 2010. The 2001 elections were terrible for the AGP as they only won 20 seats. On top of that, it was alleged that Mahanta had had an extramarital affair, he subsequently was ousted as president.
Despite the allegations of secret killings he organized against families of ULFA members, documented in the report by the Saikia Commission to the Assam Assembly, Mahanta was missed from political leadership in the state. He was reinducted into the AGP after the AGP (Progressive) was dissolved during the presidency of Chandra Mohan Patowary, and regained a prominent position in the party.
In a 2010 interview on NDTV's Walk the Talk with Shekhar Gupta, editor-in-chief of The Indian Express, Mahanta said:
"For the sake of the integrity and security of India, we are ready to take any blame. If the insurgent groups attack our forces, then they (the security forces) must have the right to respond. However, the charge against me on extra judicial killings of the ULFA sympathisers is to malign my image."[8]
In the same interview, he said that unknown agencies of the Congress Party had conspired in massacres during the Assam Movement in the early eighties.
Personal life
Mahanta married Jayashree Goswami Mahanta on the 29 April 1988. His wife was a writer and served as a Rajya Sabha MP.[9] Together they had 2 sons and 1 daughter. His younger son, Shuvam Kashyap, was hurt in a road accident in 2016.[10]
He was admitted to hospital in September 2020. He was also admitted to Guwahati hospital on 16 January 2021 after he complained about chest pain and high blood pressure. Prime Minister Narendra Modi met his wife and his son and wished Mahanta a speedy recovery.[11]
See also
- AGP
- Assam Agitation
- ULFA
References
- ^ a b "Former Assam CM Prafulla Kumar Mahanta resigns as AGP chief". IANS. news.biharprabha.com. Retrieved 14 July 2014.
- ^ Mahanta takes on Congress heavyweight
- ^ "Who's Who". assamassembly.gov.in. Retrieved 27 August 2021.
- ^ "Prafulla Kumar Mahanta | Biography & Facts". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 27 August 2021.
- ^ "Barhampur Assembly Constituency Election Result - Legislative Assembly Constituency". resultuniversity.com. Retrieved 27 August 2021.
- ^ "INDIA 11 northeast parties join hands ahead of Lok Sabha polls, form front", The Times of India, archived from the original on 24 October 2013
- ^ "Prafulla Kumar Mahanta: The man who would be king". The Indian Express. 10 March 2021. Retrieved 27 August 2021.
- ^ Walk the talk with pk mahanta
- ^ "2019 Sahitya Akademi awardee Jayashree Goswami Mahanta to distribute prize money among families who lost lives during CAA protests in Assam". Firstpost. 18 December 2019. Retrieved 27 August 2021.
- ^ "Mahanta, son hurt in road accident". Retrieved 27 August 2021 – via PressReader.
- ^ "PM Modi meets family of ailing Assam ex-CM Prafulla Kumar Mahanta, wishes for his speedy recovery". The Economic Times. Retrieved 27 August 2021.
4. http://www.elections.in/assam/assembly-constituencies/nowgong.html