Assam declares half-day holiday tomorrow as mark of respect for former CM Tarun Gogoi

The Assam government has declared a half-day holiday on Thursday as a mark of respect to former chief minister Tarun Gogoi who passed away on Monday due to post-Covid-19 complications.

Gogoi’s last rites are scheduled to be performed on Thursday afternoon at Nabagraha crematorium in Guwahati and the half-holiday coincides with it. Earlier, the government had announced a three-day state mourning.

“The state government of Assam expresses profound sorrow at the sad demise of Shri Tarun Gogoi, former chief minister of Assam. As a mark of respect to the departed soul, the government of Assam has declared half-holiday at 1 pm on the day of cremation on November 26,” said an order issued by the general administration department.

“During this period, all state government offices, semi government offices, public sector undertakings, corporations, boards, educational institutions etc. will remain closed,” the order added.

Gogoi’s body is at present kept at Srimanta Sankardeva Kalakshetra in Guwahati for the public to pay last respects.

Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi along with two party general secretaries KC Venugopal and Jitendra Singh arrived in Guwahati on Wednesday morning to pay last respects to Gogoi.

Gandhi landed at Lokapriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport on a chartered flight from Goa and went straight to Srimanta Sankardeva Kalakshetra.

From there he went to Gogoi’s official residence in Guwahati to meet the former leader’s family members including wife Dolly and son Gaurav, a Lok Sabha MP from Assam.

“Gogoiji was not just a leader of Assam. He was a formidable chief minister and a national leader. He inspired us by bringing the people of Assam together and by bringing peace to the state,” said Gandhi.

“I spent many hours with him and he was my teacher, my guru and he explained to me like nobody can on what Assam is, what its people are and the complexities and beauties of the state,” he added.

Gandhi along with Venugopal left for Delhi on Wednesday itself whereas Singh, who is also the party in-charge for Assam, stayed back to attend the cremation.

“On Thursday, Gogoi’s body will be taken to his official residence early in the morning for some rituals. From there it will be taken in a procession to a church, a mosque, two temples and a ‘naam-ghar’ (prayer house) before being taken to the cremation site,” informed state Congress president Ripun Bora.