Jagadish Bhuyan

Jagadish Bhuyan is an Assam Movement student leader and politician from Assam who served two terms as an MLA of the Assam Legislative Assembly from the Sadiya legislative assembly constituency in Tinsukia district, and as tourism minister in the Prafulla Kumar Mahanta government from 1998-2001. Originally a leader in the Asom Gana Parishad, in June 2015 he abandoned the faltering AGP for the Bharatiya Janata Party. Currently, he is the chairman of Assam Petro-chemicals Limited.

Student activism

From 1979 Bhuyan was an active member and eventually paid staff member for the All Assam Student Union and later of the National Student Co-ordination Committee of which the AASU was a part.

Public office

In 1995 he joined the AGP, and in the 1996 Assam Legislative Assembly was elected as the youngest MLA of that session of the Assembly. In the year of 1998 he became Minister of Tourism; he was re-elected as MLA in 2001.

He remained active in the AGP, but in 2015 announced that he and several other senior AGP leaders from the Tinsukia region were leaving the party, stating "I have lost faith in the AGP which has become directionless... [t]he BJP on the other hand is the right party to fight for the cause of Assam."^[1]

He is now the executive member of Bharatiya Janata Party, Assam Pradesh.

Social life

He started his social life on 1979 as All Assam Student Union (AASU) activist of Kakapather Anchalik Committee. From 1979-87 he worked in different post in undivided All Dibrugarh District Student Union & Tinsukia District Student Union. In 1987 he became Central Executive Member of All Assam Student Union. He worked as Finance Secretary and Vice President of AASU Central Executive Committee.

In the year 1992 he became Member Secretary of National Student Co-ordination Committee and worked in this post till 1994. This organization consisted of All Assam Student Union, Sikh Student Federation, All Arunachal Pradesh Student Union, Naga Student Federation, Mizo Zirloipoul, Tribal Student Federation of Tripura, All Manipur Student Union, Khasi Student Union, Uttarkhand Mahasabha, Uttarkhand Student Front and Panther Student Organization, Jammu and Kashmir. The said organization worked for restructuring of Indian Constitution and mobilized public opinion in favor of strong federal structure of union of India along with all regional student organizations of the country. During 1991 to 1995 he worked against violation of human rights.^[2]

Political life

He joined active politics in 1995 by joining Assam Gana Parishad (AGP) and nominated as central executive member of it.

In 1996 General Assembly Election he contested from Sadiya Constituency. He was elected as the youngest MLA at the age of 30 years. In the year 1998, he became the Minister of Tourism, Assam. In 2001, he was elected as MLA for second time. In 2004, he was nominated as spokesperson and member of steering committee of AGP. From 2008 to 2012 he was nominated as general secretary of the party.

In 2011, after another poor showing of AGP in the state assembly election he along with some of his colleagues started a reform process of the party. His initiatives were supported by many leading intellectuals of the state. But he failed to motivate the top leadership to reform and restructure the party. In frustration some of his colleagues left the AGP and joined other political parties. Jagadish Bhuyan too resigned from the primary membership of AGP and joined Bharatiya Janata Party. He is currently the executive member of BJP, Assam Pradesh.

On June 7, 2015 after stating "I have lost faith in the AGP which has become directionless and was shrinking each passing day. The BJP on the other hand is the right party to fight for the cause of Assam..." Jagadish Bhuyan along with several senior leaders of the AGP to join the BJP.

Now he is the one of the Media Panelist of the party. He is currently the Chairman of Assam Petrochemicals Limited.

Cultural life

Mr. Jagadish Bhuyan was also involved in acting from childhood & later on he acted in many Assamese Featured Films & TV Serial as co-actor.

He acted in featured films likes Daag, Kanyadan, Seuji Dharani Dhuniya, Bidhata, Ami Asomia, Bholaborar Dinlipi etc.

Dr. Bhupen Hazarika Setu

Mr. Jagadish Bhuyan, the then MLA of Sadiya wrote the first letter to the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government in 2003 for a bridge connecting Dhola with Sadiya. Mr Bhuyan continuously pursued for three years with the Central Government for this strategic bridge. The bridge was finally constructed in 14 years and inaugurated by Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi in 2017. This bridge is named Dr. Bhupen Hazarika Setu.^[3]

References