Former Assam Congress Chief Bhupen Kumar Borah officially left the Congress to join the BJP at Guwahati's Assam BJP leader quarters in the presence of Assam BJP chief Dilip Saikia today. Along with Borah, young Congress leaders like Sanju Baruah and Sarbanarayan Deori also joined the BJP.
Who is Bhupen Borah
Bhupen Borah is a veteran politician who had been in Congress for the last 32 years.
Borah served two terms as a member of the Assam Legislative Assembly representing Bihpuria from 2006 to 2016. He was also the former president of Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) from 2021 to 2024.
He was a spokesperson and parliamentary secretary for the Government of Assam during Tarun Gogoi's tenure. In 2013, he was appointed president of the Assam Pradesh Congress Committee.
Borah was vice-president of North Lakhimpur College Students' Union and general secretary of Dibrugarh University Postgraduate Students' Union.
Born on October 30, 1970, in Pohumora, Lakhimpur, Borah graduated from North Lakhimpur College and Dibrugarh University.
Borah gained prominence and established his ideas among the students at Dibrugarh University. Union minister Sarbananda Sonowal was also studying at Dibrugarh University at the same time as Borah, and both were a part of the All Assam Students' Union (AASU).
When Bhupen Borah was the APCC president, he was vocal against any issues. Borah was one of the prominent leaders in Congress who had served in the party in different position and when the party had given him a different role, he served without any objection.
Former Assam Congress president Bhupen Borah quit the party this week, apparently citing party MP Rakibul Hussain as a major reason behind his shocking resignation, which came ahead of the assembly polls. Borah alleged that Hussain held the reins of Congress in Assam and that party MP Gaurav Gogoi, who is the party's state unit chief, is merely a figurehead. Hussain has not yet directly responded to Borah's allegations, but he said he would discuss them in a few days.
Bhupen Borah was a hard-core organisational leader for over three decades, walking up the steps from NSUI to the youth Congress to the state Congress, and later he also became AICC secretary and played a key role in party organisation not only in Assam but also in other states of the northeast. He had remained the Assam Congress Chief till May last year, and it was under his leadership that Congress won three Lok Sabha seats in the Assam polls.
