Akhil Gogoi Lone prominent voice in opposition camp to win Assam assembly polls

Guwahati, May 4 (PTI) Raijor Dal president Akhil Gogoi is the only prominent opposition leader in Assam who managed to win the assembly polls and retain his seat, according to the Election Commission on Monday.
    Gogoi retained Sibsagar for the second consecutive term, defeating BJP's Kushal Dowari by 17,272 votes.
    The opposition leader polled 86,521 votes compared to Dowari's 69,249.
    Another NDA ally, AGP's Prodip Hazarika bagged 14,757 votes, EC data showed.
    Raijor Dal bagged two seats in the 126-member Assembly, the other being Mehboob Muktar, who won from Dhing with a margin of 71,494 votes.
    Gogoi, who floated Raijor Dal in October 2020, was a prominent face of the anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act agitation of Assam.
    Arrested in December 2019 during the protests, he was charged under UAPA and spent 567 days in jail.
    He contested the 2021 Assembly polls from custody and won Sibsagar as an Independent. He became the first Assamese to win an election despite remaining behind bars and without any physical campaigning.
    Gogoi also became the first in Assam Assembly to take oath as a prisoner MLA, coming out of jail on a special permission by court.
    After his release from jail in 2021, he joined the Assembly and started opposing the BJP government's policies. On many occasions, he directly confronted Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, resulting in a heated exchange of words.
    Gogoi opposed the BJP government on CAA, alleged fake encounters, evictions of minorities and privatisation of resources.
    He remains a key dissenting figure in Assam politics, blending peasant activism with legislative work on land rights, tribal issues and civil liberties.
    Born in Jorhat district, he studied English literature before becoming a full-time activist. He is married to college teacher Geetashree Tamuly, and they have a son.
    Gogoi first drew attention in 2002-2005 through the Tengani land rights movement, securing land titles for erosion-displaced families.
    In 2005, he founded Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS). The farmers' group extensively used RTI to expose PDS and NREGA scams. KMSS led high-profile protests against big dams in Assam and joined Anna Hazare's 2011 anti-corruption campaign, though Gogoi split from the group when it turned political.
    His anti-graft work won him the Shanmugam Manjunath Integrity Award in 2008 and the National RTI Award in 2010.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)