Kesab Chandra Gogoi

Kesab Chandra Gogoi (29 September 1926 – 5 August 1998) was an Indian politician and lawyer who served as the 9th Chief Minister of Assam from January to March 1982. He was the Member of Assam Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Dibrugarh from 1978 to 1996. Gogoi held various ministerial positions under numerous Chief Ministers between 1978 and 1991.

Born into a family of Tai-Ahom, Gogoi married Shanti Borgohain in 1951. Shanti was the daughter of Jogesh Chandra Borgohain, an MLC in the 1930s, and of Padma Kumari Gohain, the first post-independence female cabinet minister in Assam. Kesab and Shanti Gogoi had five children, including their eldest son Anjan who became an Air Marshal in the Indian Air Force, and their second son, Ranjan Gogoi, who became the 46th Chief Justice of India and a Member of the Rajya Sabha. Kesab Gogoi was an advocate at Gauhati High Court and a practitioner in Dibrugarh district court, as well as being a social worker before his entry to politics.

Gogoi was elected the MLA for Dibrugarh for the Janata Party in 1978. He became the finance minister under Golap Borbora in March 1978 before he was dismissed from the position in a July 1979 reshuffle. He returned to the government in September of the same year, as finance minister, under Jogendra Nath Hazarika. In 1980, he defected to the Indian National Congress (INC) where he then returned as finance minister under Anwara Taimur until President's rule was imposed in June 1981. Gogoi was appointed Chief Minister of Assam on 13 January 1982 ending the President's rule that had existed since the dissolution of the Taimur ministry. During his tenure, he furthered implementation of National Rural Employment Scheme a,d emphasised the 20-point programme launched by Indira Gandhi. Gogoi later resigned amid a motion of no confidence vote in March, having served for 66 days.

After being reelected for Dibrugarh in the 1983 Assam Legislative Assembly election, Gogoi returned to government as the Revenues and Industries Minister under Hiteswar Saikia. He was later appointed Minister for the Public Works Department (PWD), serving until the defeat of the INC in the 1985 election. He was reelected for Dibrugarh in the 1991 election, and subsequently was appointed Minister for Planning and Development in the Second Saikia Ministry. Gogoi was appointed Minister for Public Enterprises in October 1991 before being dismissed the following month for alleged anti-party activities. He was expelled from the INC in 1995, and was instead nominated as the All India Indira Congress (tiwari) for Dibrugarh in the 1996 election but was defeated by the INC candidate. Gogoi's eighteen-year long political career ended in the year 1996, and he died at the age of 72 in 1998.