Union Home and Cooperation Minister Shri Amit Shah today addressed the birth centenary celebrations of former Assam Chief Minister Golap Borbora in Guwahati.
Golap Borbora ji, who was Assam’s first non-Congress Chief Minister, throughout his life became the voice of the oppressed and marginalized and upheld the dignity of the Constitution.
Today, when the Election Commission is sanitizing the voter list, some political parties are taking out marches in defense of infiltrators in order to strengthen their vote bank.”
He ensured a thorough verification of the voter list and drove infiltrators out.
Golap Borbora ji dedicated his entire life to the upliftment of workers, the poor, and the backward classes.
The voter list of the country is the heart of democracy — foreign nationals must not find a place in it.
Modi ji has announced a high-powered demographic mission, which will prove crucial in making the nation free from infiltrators.
It is our solemn resolve to make Assam and the entire nation free from infiltrators — and we shall surely accomplish it.
While Indira Gandhi only honored her own family, Prime Minister Modi is honoring the great figures of our nation.
The Home Minister praised the Assam government’s efforts to free lakhs of acres of land encroached upon by infiltrators.
The Union Home Minister also released a book based on the life of Golap Borbora.
Guwahati, August 29: Honorable Union Minister of Home and Cooperation Shri Amit Shah today addressed the birth centenary program of Golap Borbora, Assam’s first non-Congress chief minister.
Shri Shah said, In this program, I would like to most humbly pay homage to the revered Golap Borbora ji, bowing with folded hands to his immense contributions — in the freedom struggle, in the movement to safeguard democracy after Independence, and in bringing the best principles of socialist ideology to the ground in Assam and the Northeast.
I would also like to recall a line from Bharat Ratna Bhupen Hazarika ji for Shri Golap ji: “Man is for man, and life is for life.” Borbora ji spent his entire life living and embodying this principle. By upholding this ideal, he became the voice of the deprived, safeguarded the dignity of the Constitution, raised the banner against authoritarianism and corruption, and, along with preserving Assam’s unique identity, awakened the soul of India that resides in Assam.
When in 1978 he became the first non-Congress Chief Minister of Assam, it marked a historic turning point in the political history of the state. Despite the many mistakes made in governance in the years after Independence, until 1978 Assam had not seen a non-Congress Chief Minister. Though his tenure was brief—only 17 months—Borbora ji left an indelible mark on Assam’s public life.
In 1965, he was elected the National General Secretary of the Samyukta Socialist Party. In 1974, he led the historic railway strike. During the Emergency, when Indira ji faced opposition across the country, he too stood in resistance. He became the voice of the movement led by Jayaprakash Narayan in Assam. For the first time, he was elected to the Rajya Sabha as a member of the Opposition by a margin of just one vote. That decisive vote was cast by none other than the independent candidate, Bhupen Hazarika ji.
I also wish to extend my gratitude and congratulations to Himanta Biswa Sarma ji and the BJP–Asom Gana Parishad government. Since the time Indira ji assumed the reins of power, no one outside her family was given recognition or respect. After she became Prime Minister, all memorials built, schemes launched, or centenaries celebrated were either in the name of Jawaharlal Nehru ji, Indira ji herself, Rajiv ji, or occasionally Sanjay ji. In such a vast country of diverse cultures, so many unknown people made immense contributions to India’s progress, yet their efforts were never honored. Public life seemed increasingly narrow-minded, reserved only for one’s own.
It was only when Narendra Modi ji built the Statue of Unity that the great contribution of Sardar Patel, which had been forgotten since Indira ji’s time, was recognized. Until Modi ji installed Subhas Chandra Bose’s statue on Kartavya Path, Delhi’s corridors had no place of honor for Netaji, a leader revered as “Netaji” by the people. Gopinath Bordoloi too was awarded Bharat Ratna only when Congress was no longer in power, despite belonging to their own party.
Therefore, I congratulate Himanta Biswa Sarma ji and the Assam government. Borbora ji never had any association with our party. He lived his entire life guided by socialist ideology, following the principles of leaders like Lohia ji, Jayaprakash Narayan, and Vinoba ji. His thoughts never aligned with the ideology of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh or the Bharatiya Janata Party. But does this mean that future generations of Assam should be deprived of knowing about his towering life? Should the youth of Assam not learn about his contributions to the state’s development, his role in upholding political morality, his fight against dictatorship, and his voice for the oppressed and marginalized?
I believe that in public life we must rise above party politics and always present the stories of those who did good work, for the knowledge and inspiration of our youth. And that is precisely what Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma and the BJP–AGP government are doing.
Today, a book on his life has also been released. Borbora ji was born in 1925 in Golaghat. His patriotism, socialist ideals, and sensitivity towards the poor were part of his lineage. His great-grandfather, Mayaram ji, was a comrade of Maniram Dewan in the 1857 First War of Independence. His father, Komal Borbora ji, while working at Assam Oil Company in 1939, organized Assam’s first industrial strike in support of workers. From this lineage emerged Golap Borbora, who spent his life upholding socialist ideals and working for laborers, the poor, and the underprivileged.
At a very young age, as an 8th–9th standard student, he could not stop himself from joining the Quit India Movement in 1942. After completing his studies in Calcutta, he returned to Assam and worked in both education and journalism after Independence. In the 1950s and 60s, he emerged as a prominent face of the socialist movement in Assam, connecting with leaders like JP, Dr. Lohia, and Surendranath Tagore. His guiding spirit was always to ensure the worker’s stove burns and the farmer’s sweat is honored.
He firmly stated that the Northeast is not “outside India” but an inseparable part of India’s heart. This was a powerful assertion in those times. Whether in the Assam refinery movement or opposing the Kutch border agreement in Gujarat, Borbora ji stood with the socialists in every struggle. During the 1974 railway strike, cases of “rail dacoity” were even filed against him. He was among the first leaders to be jailed during the Emergency and among the last to be released — spending 19 months in prison. Even after Independence, he had to go to jail nine times, with the Emergency imprisonment being the longest.
He was also associated with Jayaprakash Narayan’s Hind Mazdoor Sabha in 1948. In the freedom movement too, he raised his voice strongly against dictatorship. As Chief Minister, though briefly, he made decisions remembered to this day. The first was making education free up to the 10th standard in Assam, ensuring that even the poorest child could study. In just one year, he established over 200 educational institutions — a record since Independence. He also introduced irrigation reforms, waived land revenue for farmers with up to 10 bighas of land, opened small tea gardens for farmers, and set up Assam’s first banking recruitment and railway recruitment boards, giving opportunities to local youth.
During his tenure, he also initiated voter list purification to remove infiltrators. He carried out detailed scrutiny in 70 out of 126 constituencies, removing 36,780 illegal infiltrators from the rolls — laying the foundation of the Assam Movement. Today too, the Election Commission continues this work, while some parties oppose it by launching “Ghuspethia Bachao Yatras.”
If Borbora ji were alive today, he would have opposed such politics on the streets despite his age. The present Assam government has freed 1,26,000 acres of land from infiltrators, including forest land in Kaziranga and land belonging to Shankardev and Madhavdev’s Satras. On August 15, 2025, Narendra Modi ji announced the creation of a high-powered mission to study demographic change — based on the very principles of Borbora ji. This mission will study demographic shifts and help identify infiltrators nationwide.
The Assam government deserves applause — in Sonitpur alone, 39,500 bighas have been freed, 17,095 in Darrang, 13,438 in Lakhimpur, 10,749 in Hojai, and 8,280 in Goalpara — altogether 1,26,000 acres.
When we first contested elections in Assam, we promised to make the state infiltrator-free. Though it has taken 10 years, I reaffirm to the youth of Assam and India that we will fulfill this pledge and remove infiltrators not only from India but from the entire nationThe centenary year of Borbora ji is the right occasion to advance this mission.
Golap Borbora ji was the voice of the poor and the common man, a great defender of democracy, a strong advocate of integrating the Northeast with the national mainstream, and a proponent of decentralization of power as envisioned in our Constitution.
Today marks the beginning of the birth centenary celebrations of this great freedom fighter.
A rural development institution has also been named after him by Himanta ji. Throughout the year, his life, works, and ideals will be spread across every district and tehsil of Assam, inspiring the future.
I urge everyone present here to draw inspiration from his noble life and apply his teachings in their own lives. That will be the truest tribute to Golap Borbora ji.
