Tanka Bahadur Rai (born 14 October 1950) is an Indian National Congress 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 ...

from 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 ...

for Barchalla. He was Deputy Speaker and then Speaker of

. He was also a minister in the Tarun Gogoi cabinet.

Early life and education

Tanka Bahadur Rai was born on 14 October 1950 to the late Pancha Bahadur Rai and the late Dhansiri Rai in Singri. He Completed HSLC in 1967, Pre University (1968), B.A (Distinction) from

Darrang College Darrang College also known as Nalanda of the North Bank, is a college in Tezpur Municipality of Assam, a state of India. The college provides Bachelor's Degrees in Arts, Commerce & Science from Gauhati University, to which it is affiliated. ...

in 1971 and

M.A Ma, MA, or mA may refer to: Academia * Master of Arts, a degree award * Marin Academy, a high school in San Rafael, California * Menlo-Atherton High School, a public high school in Atherton, California * Minnehaha Academy, a private high schoo ...

(Ist Class) 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 ...

in 1973 and an

LLB A Bachelor of Laws (; LLB) is an undergraduate law degree offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree and serves as the first professional qualification for legal practitioners. This degree requires the study of core legal subje ...

from Guwahati University Law College in 1978.

Early career

Rai was the Organising Secretary of Darrang Nepali Students Union from 1969-1971. He was a member of the Executive Committee, Darrang College Students Union from 1970-1971. He was also an Executive Committee Member (Departmental Representative) of Post Graduate Students Union,

from 1972-1973. He was also General Secretary of the Political Science Society, Gauhati University from 1972-1973. Rai was lecturer, Lok Nayak Omiya Kr.Das College,

Dhekiajuli Dhekiajuli is a town and a municipal board in Sonitpur district in the state of Assam, India. Demographics India census, Dhekiajuli has a population of 21,579. Males constitute 51.42% of the population and females 48.58%. Dhekiajuli has an ave ...

Sonitpur Sonitpur district ron: ˌsə(ʊ)nɪtˈpʊə or ˌʃə(ʊ)nɪtˈpʊəis an administrative district in the state of Assam in India. The district headquarters is located at Tezpur. Etymology The name of the district is derived from a story found ...

from July 1973 to September 1973. He was then a Lecturer at Kohima College,

Kohima Kohima (; Tenyidie: Kewhira ()) is the capital of the North East Indian state of Nagaland. With a resident population of almost 100,000, it is the second largest city in the state. Kohima constitutes both a district and a municipality. The m ...

Nagaland Nagaland () is a States and union territories of India, state in the northeast India, north-eastern region of India. It is bordered by the Indian states of Arunachal Pradesh to the north, Assam to the west, Manipur to the south, and the Naga Sel ...

from 1973 to 1979 while also being a part time lecture from 1978-1981 at Kohima Law college. He has been an advocate at

Tezpur Tezpur () is a city in Sonitpur district, Assam state, India. Tezpur is located on the banks of the river Brahmaputra, northeast of Guwahati, and is the largest of the north bank cities. History Tezpur was under the rule of the Koch dynasty ...

and

Guwahati 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 ...

since 1979. He was President of Kohima Bar Association 1987-1988. He was also President of the Reception Committee of the Convention of North East Gorkha Students Federation held at Tezpur, Assam on 23,24 & 25 November 1997. He has been General Secretary, Assam Gorkha Sammelan since 1997.

Political career

Rai was elected to

on 13 May 2001, having been the

candidate for the constituency of Barchalla. He received 26567 votes, 35.79% of the total vote and he defeated the incumbent MLA for Barchalla, Prafulla Goswami, by 9112 votes. He was made Deputy Speaker of Assam Legislative Assembly on 3 April 2002 and served until 14 May 2006. 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 ...

, Rai was reelected as the Indian National Congress candidate for Barchalla. He polled 34461 votes, defeating

AGP AGP may refer to: Biology and medicine * Aerosol-generating procedure, in medicine or healthcare * Ambulatory glucose profile, a standardized report for interpreting a person's daily glucose and insulin patterns * Arabinogalactan protein, glycopr ...

candidate Brindabon Goswami by 922 votes. He was unanimously elected Speaker of the 12th Assam Legislative Assembly. His election was announced by G C Langthasa. He was escorted to the Speaker's chair by

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 ...

Tarun Gogoi Tarun Gogoi (1 April 1936 – 23 November 2020) was an Indian politician and lawyer who served as the 13th Chief Minister of Assam from 2001 to 2016. He was the longest serving Chief Minister of Assam. He was a member of the Indian National Con ...

legislative party leader

Brindaban Goswami Brindaban Goswami was a leader of Asom Gana Parishad and former Education Minister in Government of Assam. He was one of the student leaders who came into limelight during Assam Agitation. He was a member of split group of Asom Gana Parishad know ...

and

BJP The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; , ) is a political party in India and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. BJP emerged out from Syama Prasad Mukherjee's Bharatiya Jana Sangh. Since 2014, ...

leader Mison Ranjan Das. Later all party leaders of the Assembly congratulated him over his election. On 5 March 2010, 50 Opposition legislators blocked Rai from entering the Assembly for his alleged bias to the Congress-coalition. 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 ...

, Rai was again reelected as the

candidate for Barchalla. He received 47270 votes, 48.19% of the total vote. He defeated his nearest opponent by 17574 votes.

Ministership

He was made Minister for Planning and Development, Judicial, Legislative, Pension & Public Grievance under

on 30 May 2011 in the Third Tarun Gogoi cabinet. On 4 November 2011 he sanctioned 60

crore Crore (; abbreviated cr) denotes the quantity ten million (107) and is equal to 100 lakh in the Indian numbering system. In many international contexts, the decimal quantity is formatted as 10,000,000, but when used in the context of the India ...

under the Non-Lapsable Central Pool of Resources for the construction of a bridge. On 20 October 2013, Rai along with the Assam Chief Secretary, the Assam DGP attended the swearing-in ceremony of the Chief Justice of

Gauhati High Court The Gauhati High Court was promulgated by governor general of India on 1 March 1948 after the Government of India Act 1935 was passed, establishing the high court with effect from 5 April 1948, for the then-province of Assam. It was originall ...

, Abhay Manohar Sapre. He was one of 11 cabinet ministers who resigned following a cabinet reshuffle.

Post-ministerial career

In the

2016 Assam Legislative Assembly election The Assam Legislative Assembly Election of 2016 was held in two phases, on 4 and 11 April 2016, to elect members of the 126 constituencies in Assam, a state in North-eastern India. The overall voter turnout was 84.72%, which set a new record for ...

, Rai sought reelection. He received 30230 votes, being defeated by

candidate

Ganesh Kumar Limbu Ganesh Kumar Limbu is a Bharatiya Janata Party politician from Assam, India. Limbu was born to Late Padam Bahadur Limbu. He has been elected in Assam Legislative Assembly The Assam Legislative Assembly is the unicameral Assam Legislature, l ...

by 23682 votes.

Personal life

He is married to Chandra Maya Rai and they have 1 son and 1 daughter. He enjoys reading, travelling and sports.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rai, Tanka Bahadur Assam MLAs 2001–2006 Assam MLAs 2006–2011 Assam MLAs 2011–2016 1950 births Living people Rai people State cabinet ministers of Assam Speakers of the Assam Legislative Assembly Deputy speakers of the Assam Legislative Assembly Indian National Congress politicians from Assam