Prafulla Kumar Mahanta

Prafulla Kumar Mahanta
Constituency Barhampur
Personal details
Born 1952
Political party Asom Gana Parishad
Spouse(s) Jayshree Mahanta
Residence Guwahati, Assam

Prafulla Kumar Mahanta (born 1952) in Nagaon district in Assam, is an Indian Politician who was the leader of the Assam Movement, a former Chief Minister of Assam (two terms) and the President of the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), a major political party in the Indian state of Assam.[1] He became the chief minister in the state when the AGP came to power in 1985.[2]

He served as the chief minister of the state for two terms, (1985–1990) and (1996–2001). He is a former president of the All Assam Students Union, a student organization that spearheaded the Assam Movement between 1979 and 1985. In August 2005, his membership in the AGP was terminated. He floated a new political party, Asom Gana Parishad (Progressive), on September 15, 2005.

Despite allegations about secret killings he organized against families of ULFA members, as documented in the report by the Saikia Commission to the Assam Assembly, he was missed from political leadership in the state. He was re-inducted into the AGP after the AGP (Progressive) was dissolved during the Presidency of Chandra Mohan Patowary. Prafulla Kumar Mahanta has been taken back as an integral part of the party.

In a 2010 interview on NDTV in Walk the Talk with Shekhar Gupta, Editor-in-Chief, The Indian Express, Prafulla 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."

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.

On September 4, 2010 he was unanimously elected as the Leader of Opposition in the Assam Legislative Assembly.

Aside from the current chief minister of the state, Prafulla Mahanta is regarded as the most powerful and influential politician of Assam.

On 21st October 2013, representatives from eleven political parties of the North-east region came together to form a new political front titled the North-East Regional Political Front (NERPF) to protect the interest of the people of the region. Mahanta was appointed as the chief adviser of this front.[3]

On July 14, 2014 he resigned as the President of Asom Gana Parishad after its debacle in the 2014 Lok Sabha Elections.[1]

See also

Notes

  1. 1 2 "Former Assam CM Prafulla Kumar Mahanta resigns as AGP chief". IANS. news.biharprabha.com. Retrieved 14 July 2014.
  2. ↑ Mahanta takes on Congress heavyweight
  3. ↑ http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-10-21/india/43249443_1_mizo-national-front-nagaland-people-prafulla-mahanta
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