Rameswar Dhanowar (14 July 1939 – 10 July 2017) was an Indian politician 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 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 ...

for

Digboi Digboi (IPA: ˈdɪgˌbɔɪ) is a town and a town area committee in Tinsukia district in the north-eastern part of the state of Assam, India. Crude oil was discovered here in late 19th century and first oil well was dug in 1866. Digboi is known ...

and represented 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 ...

. He was a minister in

Hiteswar Saikia Hiteswar Saikia (3 October 1934 – 22 April 1996) was an Indian politician who served as the 10th chief minister of Assam for two terms, firstly from 28 February 1983 to 23 December 1985 and then from 30 June 1991 to 22 April 1996. He was th ...

and Tarun Gogoi’s cabinet.

Early life and education

Rameswar Dhanowar was born on 14 July 1939 to Jethua Dhanowar and Umee Dhanowar in

Sibsagar {{Infobox settlement , name = Sivasagar , settlement_type = Metropolis , image_skyline = Sivasagar.jpg , image_alt = {{multiple image , border = infobox , total_width = 270 , image_style ...

. He received a B.A. from

Guwahati 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 ...

in 1964.

Political career

Dhanowar was the

candidate for the constituency of

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 ...

. He obtained 10312 votes, 32.66% of the total vote. He defeated his nearest opponent by 67 votes. Dhanowar sought reelection in the

1983 Assam Legislative Assembly election Elections to the Assam Legislative Assembly were held in February 1983 to elect members of 114 constituencies in Assam, India. The Indian National Congress won the popular vote and a majority of seats and Hiteswar Saikia was appointed as the Ch ...

. He received 6530 votes, 72.23% of the total vote and he defeated his nearest opponent by 4643 votes. He was made minister of Labour and Employment in the

Cabinet. In the

1985 Assam Legislative Assembly election The 8th Assam Legislative Assembly election was held in two phases in 1985 to elect members from 126 constituencies in Assam, India. The Nellie massacre and Khoirabari massacre were some cases of extreme violence. The unrest officially ended on ...

, Dhanowar sought reelection in

. He received 27438 votes, 58.54% of the total vote. He defeated his nearest opponent by 15108 votes. In the

1991 Assam Legislative Assembly election Elections to the Assam Legislative Assembly were held in June 1991 to elect members of 126 constituencies in Assam, India. The Indian National Congress won the popular vote and a majority of seats and Hiteswar Saikia was appointed as the Chief M ...

, he sought reelection. He received 33799 votes, 63.75% of the total vote. He defeated his nearest opponent by 22745 votes. In the 1996 Assam Legislative Assembly election he was reelected by a margin of 26969 votes. In 2001 he was reelected again by a margin of 17654 votes. He was made minister for Excise, Labour and Employment in the first Tarun Gogoi cabinet. In the

2006 Assam Legislative Assembly election Legislative Assembly elections were held in Assam in two phases between 3 and 10 April 2006 to elect members from all List of constituencies of the Assam Legislative Assembly, 126 constituencies of the state . Following the election, the incumbent ...

, Dhanowar received 35773 votes, defeating his nearest opponent by 12735 votes and was reelected. In the

2011 Assam Legislative Assembly election The 13th Assam Legislative Assembly election was held in two phases on 4 and 11 April 2011 to elect members from 126 constituencies in Assam, India. The result was announced on 13 May. Bharatiya Janata Party was accused of turning the anti-im ...

. He received 38663 votes, 50.04% of the total vote. He defeated his nearest opponent by 10758 votes and was reelected. He did not seek reelection in

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

, after being MLA for 38 years. His son was the Congress candidate but lost.

Personal life

He married Rani Dhanowar on 27 April 1967 and they had three sons and two daughters. His son, Gautam Dhanowar, was the

candidate for

but lost. His son resigned from the Indian National Congress after being denied the

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

ticket for

and he later joined BJP. Another of his sons, Manoj, contested the

2019 Lok Sabha election General elections were held in India in seven phases from 11 April to 19 May 2019 to elect the members of the 17th Lok Sabha. Votes were counted and the result was declared on 23 May. Around 912 million people were eligible to vote, and vote ...

s 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 ...

but lost and contested the

2021 Assam Legislative Assembly election The 2021 Assam Legislative Assembly election was the 15th quinquennial State legislative assemblies of India, legislative assembly election held in the Indian state of Assam from March 27 to April 6 in three phases, to elect 126 Member of the L ...

for Lahowal but again lost. Manoj Dhanowar later resigned from the Indian National Congress.

Death

On 10 July 2021, Dhanowar died at the age of 77 after a prolonged illness.

Positions held

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dhanowar, Rameswar 1939 births 2017 deaths Assam MLAs 1978–1983 Assam MLAs 1983–1985 Assam MLAs 1985–1991 Assam MLAs 1991–1996 Assam MLAs 1996–2001 Assam MLAs 2001–2006 Assam MLAs 2006–2011 Assam MLAs 2011–2016 State cabinet ministers of Assam Indian National Congress politicians from Assam