Ramesh Chandra Barooah (1 July 1912- died) was an

Indian politician The Politics and Government of India works within the framework of the country's Constitution, which was adopted in 1950. India is a parliamentary secular democratic republic, described as a “sovereign, socialist, secular democratic republ ...

from the state of

Assam Assam (, , ) is a state in Northeast India, northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra Valley, Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . It is the second largest state in Northeast India, nor ...

. He was a member of

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 ...

for

Dibrugarh Dibrugarh () is a city in the Indian state of Assam, located 435 kms east of the state capital Dispur. It serves as the headquarters of the Dibrugarh district in Upper Assam. Dibrugarh also serves as the headquarters of the Sonowal Kach ...

. He was twice a cabinet minister, as well as becoming speaker of the assembly in 1972.

Education and personal life

Barooah was educated at

Gauhati Guwahati () the largest city of the Indian state of Assam, and also the largest metropolis in northeastern India. Dispur, the capital of Assam, is in the circuit city region located within Guwahati and is the seat of the Government of Assam. Th ...

and

Calcutta Kolkata, also known as Calcutta (List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern ba ...

. He had a B.L. He married Shrimati Purnima Barooah in 1945 and they had two sons two daughters.

Political career

Barooah was the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party, or simply the Congress, is a political parties in India, political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885, it was the first mo ...

candidate for the newly created constituency of

in the

1957 Assam Legislative Assembly election Elections to the Assam Legislative Assembly were held on 25 February 1957. 312 candidates contested for the 94 constituencies in the Assembly. There were 14 two-member constituencies and 80 single-member constituencies.Subsequently, the First Cha ...

. He received 6351 votes, losing to

communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

candidate Nilamoni Barthakur. In 1961, there was a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections. A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...

. Barooah was again the

candidate for the

constituency An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provi ...

. He received 6522 votes, defeating Nilamoni Barthakur by 2550 votes. In the 1962 Assam Legislative Assembly election, Barooah sought reelection in

. He received 11588 votes, defeating his nearest

Communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

opponent by 5150 votes. In the 1967 Assam Legislative Assembly election, Barooah again sought reelection as the

candidate in

. He received 8480 votes, defeating his nearest opponent by 2532. In 1967,

Chief Minister A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union ter ...

Bimala Prasad Chaliha Bimala Prasad Chaliha (26 March 1912 – 25 February 1971) was a Leader of Indian National Congress and a Freedom Fighter who was imprisoned at Jorhat Jail in 1942 for active participation in Mahatma Gandhi's Quit India Movement against the Brit ...

constituted his ministry for the second time and Barooah was made a cabinet minister. He served until the end of the ministry. After Mahendra Mohan Choudhury formed his ministry, Barooah was made minister for Supply, Trade, Commerce and Excise and he served until the end of the ministry. In the

1972 Assam Legislative Assembly election Elections to the Assam Legislative Assembly were held in March 1972 to elect members of 114 constituencies in Assam, India. The Indian National Congress won the popular vote and a majority of seats and Sarat Chandra Singha was re-appointed as ...

, Barooah sought reelection in Dibrugarh. He received 18669 votes, easily defeating his nearest opponent by 16143 votes. Barooah was appointed

Speaker Speaker most commonly refers to: * Speaker, a person who produces speech * Loudspeaker, a device that produces sound ** Computer speakers Speaker, Speakers, or The Speaker may also refer to: Arts and entertainment * "Speaker" (song), by David ...

on 22 March 1972. During his tenure, he chaired the debate of the first, second and third

motion of no-confidence In physics, motion is when an object changes its position with respect to a reference point in a given time. Motion is mathematically described in terms of displacement, distance, velocity, acceleration, speed, and frame of reference to an obse ...

against the ministry of

Sarat Chandra Sinha Sarat Chandra Sinha (1 January 1914 – 25 December 2005) was an Indian politician and Chief Minister of Assam. He was a leader of Indian National Congress, Indian National Congress (Socialist) and Nationalist Congress Party. He was known f ...

. Barooah did not seek reelection in the

1978 Assam Legislative Assembly election The 1978 Assam Legislative Assembly election was held to elect members for 126 assembly seats to constitute the seventh Assam Legislative Assembly on February 25 1978. The Janata Party formed the first non-Congress government led by Golap Borbor ...

. The

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

candidate in the election was defeated by Janata Party candidate

Kesab Chandra Gogoi Kesab Chandra Gogoi (29 September 1925 – 5 August 1998) was an Indian politician who was the Chief Minister of the state of Assam for two months in 1982. For most of his political career, he was a member of Indian National Congress. He was a f ...

, who later became

Chief Minister of Assam The chief minister of Assam, an Indian state, is the head of the Government of Assam. As per the Constitution of India, the governor is the state's ''de jure'' head, but '' de facto'' executive authority rests with the chief minister. Following e ...

. Barooah was also Chairman (Governing Body) of

Assam Medical College Assam Medical College and Hospital (AMCH), formerly Berry White Medical School, is a government medical school and hospital in Dibrugarh, Assam, India. It was the first medical college in Assam and the whole of Northeast India. It is the terti ...

Tributes

In 2017, Barooah’s 104th birth anniversary was observed. An art competition for school students was organized at Dibrugarh Government Higher Secondary and Multipurpose Girls’ School. The competition was inaugurated by Indeswar Khaund, who lit the traditional lamp and paid floral tributes to Barooah. Sarat Barkotoky gave a brief description on Barooah’s life, in the presence of Barooah’s family. In 2019, the 107th birth anniversary of Barooah was celebrated in

. The ceremonial lamp was lit by his niece, Ila Dowerah.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barooah, Ramesh Chandra Assam MLAs 1962–1967 Assam MLAs 1967–1972 Assam MLAs 1972–1978 State cabinet ministers of Assam Speakers of the Assam Legislative Assembly 1912 births Place of birth missing Year of death missing Place of death missing Assam MLAs 1957–1962 People from Dibrugarh district