Tarun Gogoi: Congress's man of all seasons who rose in Indira-Rajiv era, foresaw BJP's rise in Manmohan era

Tarun Gogoi’s end came when his party needed him most. Tarun Gogoi shot to fame in 1976 when he was made the joint secretary of AICC and an office-bearer of the Indian Youth Congress under Ambika Soni’s leadership. Barua gave Tarun Gogoi the key responsibilities to organise AICC’s Guwahati session where Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had famously said, “Youth has stolen thunder out of us.” It was a direct reference to the rise of son Sanjay Gandhi and his core team that had Tarun Gogoi, Pranab Mukherjee, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Kamal Nath, Ashok Gehlot and many others. When Sanjay Gandhi’s death and Rajiv Gandhi’s elevation saw many from 1976-era youth Congress leaders falling the wayside, Tarun Gogoi caught Rajiv’s eye, putting him in the league of Ahmed Patel, Digvijaya Singh, Tariq Anwar etc and ministerial assignments kept coming, culminating in three consecutive terms as chief minister of Assam from 2001 to 2016. Speaking to the local media in March 2016, Gogoi described Himanta Biswa Sarma, once his most trusted lieutenants and now top BJP leader, as “shani” and said, “Yes I was under the spell of shani for several years.” Tarun Gogoi had always considered himself an organisational man and remained deeply committed to the cause of the party, equally concerned about happenings in the rest of the country as it were in Assam.