The ministry of

Kesab Chandra Gogoi Kesab Chandra Gogoi (29 September 1925 – 5 August 1998) was an Indian politician who was the Chief Minister of the state of Assam for two months in 1982. For most of his political career, he was a member of Indian National Congress. He was a f ...

was formed on 13 January 1982. The formation of the ministry ended 197 days of President’s rule in

Assam Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...

. The ministry ended after only 66 days, after Gogoi resigned during a

motion of no confidence A motion of no confidence, also variously called a vote of no confidence, no-confidence motion, motion of confidence, or vote of confidence, is a statement or vote about whether a person in a position of responsibility like in government or mana ...

vote. Gogoi then recommended that the state again be put under President’s Rule.

History

Formation

President’s Rule was imposed in

after the

Anwara Taimur Syeda Anwara Taimur (24 November 1936 – 28 September 2020) was an Indian politician, who was the chief minister of the Indian state of Assam from 6 December 1980 to 30 June 1981. She died in Australia on 28 September 2020. She was a leader of ...

government failed to get the Assam appropriation bill passed by the

assembly Assembly may refer to: Organisations and meetings * Deliberative assembly, a gathering of members who use parliamentary procedure for making decisions * General assembly, an official meeting of the members of an organization or of their representa ...

. On 12 January 1982, Gogoi told the press that he had the backing of 63 MLAs. Gogoi stated "I cannot reveal the identities of the 63 legislators whose support I enjoy for obvious reasons. But I am confident I will prove my majority on the floor of the House." Gogoi then contested for the Leadership. The Taimur Camp had encouraged

Hiteswar Saikia Hiteswar Saikia (3 October 1936 – 22 April 1996) was the chief minister of Assam for two terms, first from 28 February 1983 to 23 December 1985 and then from 30 June 1991 to 22 April 1996. Family and education Hiteswar Saikia was born on 3 ...

to contest Gogoi’s claim but an opinion poll before the final selection revealed only supporters of Saikia among the 35 partymen assembled while 24 favoured Gogoi and 3 remained neutral. Hours before the selection meeting, 4 Taimur supporters resigned from the party.

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

Prakash Mehrotra accepted Gogoi’s claim that he had the support of 63 MLAs and he was sworn in as

Chief Minister of Assam The chief minister of Assam, an Indian state, is the head of the Government of Assam. As per the Constitution of India, the governor is the state's ''de jure'' head, but ''de facto'' executive authority rests with the chief minister. Following e ...

on 13 January 1982 at

Raj Bhavan Raj Bhavan () is the common name of the official residences of the governors of the states of India and may refer to: List of Raj Bhavan See also * Raj Niwas *Rashtrapati Bhavan *Rashtrapati Nilayam *Rashtrapati Niwas The Rashtrapati Niwas ...

in a simple ceremony. He constituted his

Left Left may refer to: Music * ''Left'' (Hope of the States album), 2006 * ''Left'' (Monkey House album), 2016 * "Left", a song by Nickelback from the album ''Curb'', 1996 Direction * Left (direction), the relative direction opposite of right * L ...

- Janata

coalition A coalition is a group formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political or economical spaces. Formation According to ''A Gui ...

ministry Ministry may refer to: Government * Ministry (collective executive), the complete body of government ministers under the leadership of a prime minister * Ministry (government department), a department of a government Religion * Christian ...

on 13 January 1982. For many

MLAs The Max Launch Abort System (MLAS) was a proposed alternative to the Maxime Faget-invented "tractor" launch escape system (LES) that was planned for use by NASA for its Orion (spacecraft), Orion spacecraft in the event an Ares I malfunction du ...

support of the new government was fear that the Assembly may be dissolved if they don't.

Ministry

At the time of the formation of the ministry, the foreigners issue was still very urgent. However Gogoi stated, "My government's policy will not be very different from the previous government's. There will be no reshuffle of officials. I am giving top priority to the solution of the foreigners issue and the maintenance of law and order. Apart from this, implementation of the prime minister's 20-point programme will be my major concern." As Gogoi said, the ministry focused on

Indira Gandhi Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (; Given name, ''née'' Nehru; 19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician and a central figure of the Indian National Congress. She was elected as third prime minister of India in 1966 ...

’s 20 point programmes and he gave more emphasis on the implementation of National Rural Employment Scheme.

Motion of No-confidence

On 17 March 1982 a

Motion of No Confidence A motion of no confidence, also variously called a vote of no confidence, no-confidence motion, motion of confidence, or vote of confidence, is a statement or vote about whether a person in a position of responsibility like in government or mana ...

was moved against the 65-day-old ministry.

Sarat Chandra Singha Sarat Chandra Singha (1 January 1914 – 25 December 2005) was an Indian politician and Chief Minister of Assam. He was a leader of Indian National Congress, Indian National Congress (Socialist) and Nationalist Congress Party. He was known f ...

Golap Borbora Golap Borbora ( as, গোলাপ বৰবৰা; 29 August 1926 – 19 March 2006) was a chief minister of Indian state of Assam from 1978 to 1979. He was the first non congress chief minister of Assam. Borbora was a member of Rajya Sabha be ...

, Hemen Das,

Promode Gogoi Promode Chandra Gogoi (29 September 1930 – 6 April 2012) was an Indian politician from the state of Assam. He was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Assam for five terms, and also served as the Minister for Flood control & Irrigation ...

, Zainal Abedin, Premadhar Bora and Romesh Mohan Kouli jointly filed the motion. The

speaker Speaker may refer to: Society and politics * Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly * Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture * A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially: ** In ...

admitted it and fixed discussion for 18 March 1982. However, the

adjourned the house ''

sine die In mathematics, sine and cosine are trigonometric functions of an angle. The sine and cosine of an acute angle are defined in the context of a right triangle: for the specified angle, its sine is the ratio of the length of the side that is oppo ...

'' after he learned Gogoi tendered in his resignation to the

. The opposition had a majority in the house however the Governor chose to dissolve the legislative assembly on advice of Gogoi. Gogoi, when asked why he recommended the assembly’s dissolution, said "I had no other alternative. If I did not make such a recommendation then the Governor would have had no other alternative but to allow the Opposition to form a ministry."

Opposition leader The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the opposition is typically se ...

and former

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 terri ...

called this "sheer

fascism Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy an ...

". On 19 March, the

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

Sanjiva Reddy then issued a proclamation which dissolved the legislative assembly and brought the state under

President's rule In India, President's rule is the suspension of state government and imposition of direct Union government rule in a state. Under Article 356 of the Constitution of India, if a state government is unable to function according to Constitutional ...

Cabinet

Notes

References

{{Reflist Assam ministries Indian National Congress state ministries Cabinets established in 1982 1982 in Indian politics