Bharat Narah

Last updated

Ranee Narah
​
(m. 1986)​
Bharat Chandra Narah
Bharat Chandra Narah.jpg
Narah in 2011
Cabinet Minister, Government of Assam
In office
2 December 2012 –24 May 2016
17 May 2001 –18 May 2011
Children2
Alma mater Cotton College
Gauhati University

Bharat Chandra Narah (born 2 January 1958) is an Indian politician from Assam, serving as the MLA of Naoboicha constituency in the Assam Legislative Assembly since 2021. He is a six-term MLA, including five-terms as the MLA of Dhakuakhana constituency from 1985 to 2011. He was a senior cabinet minister in the Assam Government under the Asom Gana Parishad from 1985 to 1990, and again under the Indian National Congress from 1995 to 1996 and from 2001 to 2011. Narah held the rank of a cabinet minister as the Press Advisor to the Chief Minister from 2012 to 2016, during which he was the senior government spokesperson for the Indian National Congress in Assam. [1] [2] He is an Independent politician, and formerly was a member of the Asom Gana Parishad from 1985 to 1995 and the Indian National Congress from 1995 to 2024. [3]

Biography

Narah is a graduate of Cotton College and Gauhati University. He was one of the main leaders of the Assam Movement from 1979 to 1985. [4] In 1982, he was the General Secretary of the All Assam Students' Union, and was imprisoned by the Government of India under the National Security Act. [5] [6] After the Assam Accord, Narah was one of the founding and more influential members of the Asom Gana Parishad that formed the ruling government from 1985 to 1990. [7] [8] He joined the Indian National Congress in 1995 after ideological disagreements with the Asom Gana Parishad leadership, [8] [9] and helped establish the Mising Autonomous Council for his indigenous tribal community in the same year. [10]

Narah was a senior member of the Indian National Congress government in Assam from 1995 to 1996, and again from 2001 to 2016. [1] [10] While the Minister of Plain Tribes and Backward Classes from 2001 to 2006, he announced the peace agreement with the Bodo Liberation Tigers Force and the approval of the Bodoland Territorial Council, [11] as well as the establishment of the Sonowal Kachari, Thengal Kachari, and Deori autonomous district councils. As the Minister of Cultural Affairs from 2008 to 2011, he oversaw the directorate of cultural affairs for Assamese culture. [12] While Narah was the Sports Minister, Guwahati hosted the 33rd National Games of India in 2010. [13]

After five-consecutive electoral victories in Dhakuakhana from 1985 to 2006, Narah was defeated in his bid for a sixth-term during the 2011 elections in an upset to Asom Gana Parishad candidate, Naba Kumar Doley. [14] [15] [16] [17] In 2012, the Chief Minister, Tarun Gogoi, brought him back into the government as Press Advisor, with the rank of a cabinet minister. [1] Narah was the senior government spokesperson as the Press Advisor until 2016. [2] In 2021, Narah was elected to his sixth-term in the Assam Legislative Assembly from Naoboicha. He resigned from the Indian National Congress in 2024. [3]

Narah is married to Ranee Narah, who was Minister of State for Tribal Affairs from 2012 to 2014 in the Union Government of India, and was elected to four-terms as a Member of Parliament from 1998 to 2004, 2009 to 2014, and 2016 to 2022.

References

    1. 1 2 3 Press Trust of India (23 July 2014). "Bharat Chandra Narah reappointed as Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi's press adviser". The Times of India . Archived from the original on 19 December 2025. Retrieved 31 December 2025.
    2. 1 2 Patowary, Ajit (13 September 2013). "Karbi Anglong turmoil outcome of pent-up anger". Assam Tribune . Retrieved 5 January 2026.
    3. 1 2 "Assam: Former Cabinet Minister Bharat Narah quits Congress". The Times of India. 27 March 2024. Archived from the original on 23 December 2025. Retrieved 23 December 2025.
    4. ↑ Express News Service (16 May 2020). "Forty Years Ago, May 16, 1980: AASU reverses stand". The Indian Express . Archived from the original on 21 December 2025. Retrieved 23 December 2025.
    5. ↑ Data India. (1982). Annual Index, p. 20. Press Institute of India.
    6. ↑ Das, Amiya Kumar (1982). Assam's Agony: A Socio-economic and Political Analysis. Lancers Publishers. p. 312. OCLC   1010926485.
    7. ↑ Guha, Seema (1986). "Youths Who Make up AGP". Near East/South Asia Report Issue 86016. United States Foreign Broadcast Information Service. p. 125.
    8. 1 2 Prabha (1998). "New Face". Rashtriya Sahara Vol. 6 (1-6). Sahara India. p. 36.
    9. ↑ Kunda, Bijan Kumar (2007). Politics in the Brahmaputra Valley, Since the Assam Accord. Om Publications. p. 241. ISBN   978-8186867815.
    10. 1 2 Sharma, Chandan Kumar (2012). "Mapping The Trajectory of Contemporary Ethnic Identity Movement: The Case of the Misings of Assam". In Mahanta, Nani Gopal (ed.). Peace and Conflict Studies: Perspectives from South Asia. Department of Political Science, Gauhati University. p. 26. ISBN   9788192401317.
    11. ↑ United News of India (10 February 2002). "BTC approval on February 13". The Tribune . Retrieved 29 December 2025.
    12. ↑ Ahmed, Imtiaz (4 October 2009). "Varied hues of Assam tribes at ethnic fest". The Telegraph (India) . Retrieved 5 January 2026.
    13. ↑ Anurag, K. (15 December 2010). "Let the Games begin: Assam urges ULFA". Rediff.com . Retrieved 5 January 2026.
    14. ↑ "Congress MLA for last 25 years defeated in Assam polls". The Indian Express. 13 May 2011. Retrieved 5 January 2026.
    15. ↑ Press Trust of India (14 May 2011). "Congress storms back to power for third time in Assam". Deccan Herald . Retrieved 5 January 2026.
    16. ↑ "Of greenhorns & giant killers". Times of India. 14 May 2011. Retrieved 5 January 2026.
    17. ↑ "Congress heading for a spectacular victory in Assam". India Today. 13 May 2011. Retrieved 5 January 2026.
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