Prafulla Kumar Mahanta

Prafulla Kumar Mahanta (born December 23, 1952, Uluoni, near Nagaon, Assam, India) is an Indian politician and government official, who was a longtime major force in the Assam People’s Council (Asom Gana Parishad; AGP), a regional political party in Assam state, northeastern India. He served two terms (1985–90 and 1996–2001) as chief minister (head of government) of that state.

Mahanta was born in a village near Nagaon, in central Assam. He earned a bachelor’s degree in law from Gauhati University in Guwahati. During his time as a student, he became active in politics, and in 1979 he was named the president of the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU), an influential organization in the state. That year the AASU embarked on a popular agitation against illegal immigrants from Bangladesh that lasted until 1985. The movement, spearheaded by Mahanta, catapulted him from being the leader of a student organization to becoming an influential politician. He was a major factor in the formation of the AGP in October 1985 and was elected the party’s first president.

Candidates affiliated with the AGP secured a notable victory in the December 1985 Assam state assembly elections, and the party formed the government. Mahanta, who was among those elected, became the chief minister, at that time the youngest person in the country to attain such a high office. His administration, however, was beset by allegations of corruption and, more seriously, problems of escalating violence linked to the United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA), a militant separatist group in the state. In 1990 the central authorities in New Delhi dismissed the AGP government and took over direct rule of the state. A split in the party in 1991 and voter dissatisfaction with its performance in its first administration led to a poor showing for the party in the 1991 assembly elections. Mahanta served as the leader of opposition in the assembly from 1991 to 1996.

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Following an AGP resurgence in the 1996 state assembly elections, Mahanta became the chief minister for a second time. That tenure became highly controversial, especially after the revelation of a dubious counterinsurgency strategy pursued by state authorities that allegedly was under the direction of Mahanta. In June 1997 the ULFA staged an abortive attack on Mahanta, after which the police coerced ULFA cadres who had surrendered to the authorities to kill family members of active insurgents. An official commission that later was convened to investigate the killings concluded in 2007 that Mahanta was directly responsible for the policy. Also during his second administration, Mahanta was alleged to have been involved in a corruption scandal involving fraudulent letters of credit and avoided prosecution only through the intervention of the governor of Assam. Investigation of the matter was reopened in 2010.

The 2001 elections were a debacle for the AGP, which won only 20 seats. On top of that, allegations later that year that Mahanta had been involved in an extramarital affair led to his ouster as party president. He subsequently withdrew from politics for a time before again becoming active, and in 2005 he formed a rival Progressive faction of the AGP.

Mahanta’s new party failed to win over the electorate in its debut at the polls in the 2006 assembly elections, as only he won a seat in the chamber. The mainstream AGP fared only slightly better than it had in 2001, garnering 24 seats. Mahanta subsequently tried to return to the main AGP, but at first his opponents within the party repeatedly foiled those attempts. By 2008, however, he had the support of enough AGP members to ensure that he and his Progressive faction could merge back into the parent organization.

The newly reconstituted AGP actually fared worse in the 2011 assembly elections than it had in 2006, capturing only 10 seats. A clamour arose among party members for change in leadership. In 2012 Mahanta was narrowly elected party president, defeating Padma Hazarika, the incumbent general secretary. However, the AGP continued to struggle at the polls, unable to win any seats in 2014. Mahanta subsequently resigned as party leader.

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Mahanta was the author of The Tussle Between the Citizens and Foreigners in Assam, which was published in 1986.