Prafulla Kumar Mahanta

Prafulla Kumar Mahanta (born 1954) was the leader of the Assam Movement, a former Chief Minister of Assam (two terms) and belongs to the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), a major political party in the Indian state of Assam. He became the youngest ever chief minister of India when the AGP came to power in 1985.^[1]

He served as the chief minister of the state for two terms, (1985–1990) and (1996–2001), and was one of the youngest chief minister's in the country's history. He is a former president of the All Assam Students Union, a student organization that spearheaded the Assam Movement between 1979 and 1985. In August 2005, his membership in the AGP was terminated and he floated a new political party, Asom Gana Parishad (Progressive), on September 15, 2005.

Despite allegations levelled against him specially on the secret killings as pointed by the Saikia Commission, his need in the Asom Gana Parishad was largely felt before the Indian general election, 2009 to fill the lacuna of leadership. He was re-inducted into the AGP after the AGP (Progressive) was dissolved during the Presidentship of Chandra Mohon Patowary. Prafulla Kumar Mahanta has again become an integral part of the party.

In a recent interview on NDTV in Walk the Talk with Shekhar Gupta, Editor-in-Chief, The Indian Express, Prafulla Mahanta has clearly said- "For the sake of the integrity and security of India, we are ready to take any blame. If the insurgent groups attack our forces, then they (the security forces) must have the right to respond. However, the charge against me on extra judicial killings of the ULFA sympathisers is to malign my image." In the same interview he has also pointed finger to some unknown agncies of the Congress Party for conspiring some massacres during the Assam Movement in the early eighties.

On September 4, 2010 he was unanimously elected as the Leader of Opposition in the Assam Legislative Assembly.

Besides the chief minister of the state, Prafulla Mahanta is still regarded as the other most powerful and influential politician of Assam.

See also

• AGP
• Assam Agitation
• ULFA
• Shekhar Gupta

Notes

1. ^ Mahanta takes on Congress heavyweight

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Name	Mahanta, Prafulla Kumar
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Date of birth	1952
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