Bhrigu Phukan (7 April 1956 – 20 March 2006) was an Indian politician who was leader of

Asom Gana Parishad Asom Gana Parishad (translation: ''Assam People's Council'', AGP) is a political party in the state of Assam, India. The AGP was formed following the historic Assam Accord of 1985 and formally launched at the Golaghat Convention held from 13 t ...

and a cabinet minister in Government of Assam in the First Mahanta Ministry. He was one of the three signatories to the

Assam Accord The Assam Accord was a Memorandum of Settlement (MoS) signed between representatives of the Government of India and the leaders of the Assam Movement. It was signed in the presence of the then-Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in New Delhi on 15 Au ...

. Phukan was born on 25 April 1956. He was elected for three consecutive terms from the prestigious Jalukbari constituency to the

Assam Legislative Assembly The Assam Legislative Assembly is the unicameral Assam Legislature, legislature of the List of states and union territories of India, Indian state of Assam. It is housed in Dispur, the capital city of Assam, geographically situated in present L ...

from 1985.

Early life

He was a graduate of

Dibrugarh University Dibrugarh University is a Collegiate University, collegiate public state university in the Indian state of Assam. It is the second oldest University in Assam and in North East India. It is a member of the Association of Commonwealth Universitie ...

. He also obtained Law Degree from

Gauhati University Gauhati University also known as GU, is a collegiate public state university located in Guwahati, Assam, India. It was established on 26 January 1948 under the provisions of an Act enacted by the Assam Legislative Assembly and is the oldest un ...

. He became closely involved in the students union movement during the university days that catapulted him to its leadership. He had been in the vanguard of the anti-foreigners agitation for six years during which period Assam was rocked by unprecedented blood-letting which left close to 900 people dead.

Political career

He was the general secretary of

All Assam Students Union All Assam Students' Union or AASU is an Assamese nationalist student's organization in Assam, India. It is best known for leading the six-year Assam Movement against Bengalis of both Indian and Bangladeshi origin living in Assam. The original le ...

during 1979-85 and jointly spearheaded the Assam Movement with

Prafulla Kumar Mahanta Prafulla Kumar Mahanta (born 23 December 1952) is an Indian politician who was the leader of the Assam Movement, and the 11th Chief Minister of Assam from 1985 to 1990 and again from 1996 to 2001 and the co-founder and former President of the ...

over the issue of

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

i influx. He was one of the three signatories of the

of 1985 along with

. In 1985 after the conclusion of the Assam movement with the signing of the historic Assam Accord, peace was restored in the state, and Phukan along with others founded the

. In December 1985, he became Home minister at the age of 29 after the

won the historic Assembly elections under the Chief Ministership of Mahanta. Phukan later fell out with Mahanta and in February 1991 walked out of

to form the

Natun Asom Gana Parishad Natun Asom Gana Parishad ('New Assamese People's Association') was a political party in the Indian state of Assam. NAGP was formed through a split of Asom Gana Parishad (AGP). NAGP was led by former Union Law Minister and MP Dinesh Goswami and ...

. The two factions united three years later and Phukan was appointed executive president of the Asom Gana Parishad. He quit the Asom Gana Parishad again in 1996 following differences with Mahanta and joined another political party. In 2001, Phukan lost as a

Nationalist Congress Party The Nationalist Congress Party is one of the List of political parties in India#State parties, state parties in India and is one of the major political parties in Maharashtra Legislative Assembly, Maharashtra with a recognised state party statu ...

candidate to

Himanta Biswa Sarma Himanta Biswa Sarma (born 1 February 1969) is an Indian politician and lawyer serving as the 15th and current Chief Minister of Assam since 2021. A former member of the Indian National Congress, Sarma joined the Bharatiya Janata Party on 23 Au ...

of the Congress, a student leader whom he had earlier groomed and who joined BJP in 2015. Phukan again returned to the Asom Gana Parishad in 2004 and contested the

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, also known as the House of the People, is the lower house of Parliament of India which is Bicameralism, bicameral, where the upper house is Rajya Sabha. Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha, Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by a ...

(parliament) elections from Guwahati constituency but lost.

Personal life

He died of multiple organ failure on 20 March 2006 in the

All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi (AIIMS New Delhi), is a public medical research university and hospital in New Delhi, India. The institute is governed by the AIIMS Act, 1956 and operates autonomously under the Ministry of He ...

and is survived by his wife Indira and a daughter Upasa.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Phukan, Bhrigu 1956 births 2006 deaths Assam MLAs 1985–1991 Assam MLAs 1991–1996 Assam MLAs 1996–2001 People from Sivasagar Asom Gana Parishad politicians Nationalist Congress Party politicians from Assam State cabinet ministers of Assam Dibrugarh University alumni Gauhati University alumni