Assam Assembly election 2021, Akhil Gogoi profile: Jailed anti-CAA activist is known to expose corruption through RTI

With the first phase of the Assam Assembly election set to begin from 27 March, Akhil Gogoi is certainly one figure on whom all eyes will be set. The jailed activist is contesting the upcoming election in Assam from Sibsagar as an Independent candidate.

Gogoi, who recently started his own party named Raijor Dal, has been in judicial custody ever since December 2019, when he was booked under the stringent UAPA during the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).

Political career

Gogoi, the founder-leader of the peasants' rights group the Kisan Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS), which was formed in 2005 amidst a forest rights movement in Golaghat's Doiang-Tengani area.

Gogoi is known to frequently use the Right to Information Act to obtain documents.

According to Amnesty International, the KMSS campaigns to protect the lives and livelihoods of farmers, including those from indigenous Adivasi communities, by "securing land and forest rights, exposing corruption and opposing the construction of big dams that could forcibly displace peasants and threaten the lives of thousands and destruction of flora and fauna".

Over 100 cases have been registered against Gogoi to date, as per Amnesty International.

In 2008, Gogoi came to national prominence after being awarded the Shanmugam Manjunath Integrity Award in 2008 for his relentless fight against corruption.

In 2010, Gogoi was given the national Right to Information Award by the Public Cause Research Foundation for helping expose a 12.5 million dollar scam in Sampoorna Gram Rozgar Yojna in Assam's Golaghat district.

Personal history

Gogoi was born on 1 March, 1976, in Jorhat.

He attended Guwahati's Cotton College where he studied English literature.

Gogoi joined the 'United Revolutionary Movement Council of Assam' after finishing his graduation.

Later, he left this group and joined Natun Padatik magazine as its secretary.