Sarma was one of three representatives of the Assam Agitation against illegal immigrants (1979-85) who signed the Assam Accord in presence of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.
Guwahati: Biraj Kumar Sarma, one of the signatories of the historic Assam Accord of 1985, Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) co-founder and former minister, passed away on January 15. He was 70.
Sarma died around 2.30 am at a private hospital where he was admitted on January 6 for protracted illness, hospital sources said. Doctors there said they failed to save him from chronic liver disease.
He was a front ranking leader of the six-year-long Assam Movement led by the All Assam Students Union from 1979 which had culminated in the signing of the Memorandum of Settlement (MoS) Assam Accord in 1985 between AASU and representatives of central and Assam governments.
Sarma was one of three representatives of the Assam Agitation against illegal immigrants (1979-85) who signed the Assam Accord in presence of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. He was the general secretary of the All Assam Gana Sangram Parishad while the other two signatories — Prafulla Kumar Mahanta and Bhrigu Kumar Phukan, were leaders of the All Assam Students’ Union.
Sarma had participated in the Assam Movement as an active member of Sadou Asom Gana Sangram Parishad and co-founded AGP, which was formed by the Assam agitation leaders in 1985. He was the general secretary of the party and later its vice-president.
Sarma, who became an MLA from East Guwahati Assembly constituency for the first time in 1985, was a Minister in Mahanta’s Asom Gana Parishad government. He won the seat for the second and last time in 1996.
He remained with the AGP since its formation till his death.
Known as a down to earth leader, Sarma had served as minister of municipal administration in the second term of the AGP-led government from 1996 to 2001, party sources said adding he had survived a gun attack on him by the proscribed United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) in 1998. He was critically injured while one of his security personnel died in the 1998 attack.
“I have lost a pillar of strength at a time when Assam is facing a crisis similar to the one that had led to the anti-foreigners’ stir 40 years ago,” Mahanta, a two-time Chief Minister, said.
“Assam has lost a selfless leader,” Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal said, announcing a three-day state mourning.