Congress leader Rahul Gandhi arrived in Guwahati on Wednesday, 25 November, to pay tribute to former Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, who passed away on Monday, due to post-COVID complications.
Gandhi said that Gogoi’s demise is a personal loss for him.
The Congress leader paid a floral tribute to the former Assam CM at Srimanta Sankardeva Kalakshetra in the city where the mortal remains of Gogoi were moved on Tuesday evening.
“He treated me like his own son. It is a personal loss for me. Today we have also lost Ahmed Patel ji, another pillar of the Congress party. It’s a tragic day for us,” ANI quoted Gandhi as saying.
Gandhi reached Lokapriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport along with other party leaders – Congress general secretaries KC Venugopal and Jitendra Singh.
The Congress leaders first went to Gogoi’s official residence and met the CM’s family members including wife Dolly Gogoi and son Gaurav Gogoi, a Lok Sabha MP from Assam.
Gandhi said that Gogoi was a formidable chief minister and a national leader. “He inspired us by uniting the people of Assam and bringing peace to the state,” The Times of India quoted him as saying.
Gogoi did a "great service" to Assam and a "tremendous service to India”.
“I have spent many hours with Gogoi ji. He was my teacher, my guru, he narrated the beauty of Assam to me. It's a personal loss for me,” he reportedly added.
A large number of leaders cutting across party lines and thousands of men, women and children paid their last respects to the veteran Congress leader.
The departed leader’s glass coffin, wrapped in wreaths and flowers, was shouldered by his Parliamentarian son Gaurav Gogoi, Ripun Bora, Opposition leader Debabrata Saikia and other senior leaders like Pradyut Bordoloi and Rakibul Hussain.
During the procession with the body of the former Assam Chief Minister, thousands of passersby and waiting men and women offered their floral tributes.
In Janata Bhawan, the state secretariat, Chief Secretary Jishnu Barua, police chief Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta and many senior officials offered floral tributes.
Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Monday announced a three-day state mourning in honour of Gogoi, who served Assam as Chief Minister for 15 years – 2001-2016.
(With inputs from IANS, TOI and ANI)
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)