Debabrata Saikia

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Debabrata Saikia
Member of Assam Legislative Assembly
Incumbent
Assumed office 2011
Preceded by	Drupad Borgohain
Constituency	Nazira
Leader of the Opposition Assam Legislative Assembly
In office 3 June 2016 – 1 January 2021
Chief Minister	Sarbananda Sonowal
Incumbent
Assumed office 20 May 2021
Chief Minister	Himanta Biswa Sarma
Personal details
Born	(1964-12-14) 14 December 1964 (age 56) Nazira, Assam, India
Nationality	Indian
Political party	Indian National Congress (1992–till date)
Spouse(s)	Bandana Saikia
Children	Luit and Krishnika
Mother	Hemoprova Saikia
Father	Hiteswar Saikia
Residence	Guwahati
Education	Calcutta University
Occupation	Politician
Website	www.debabratasaikia.in

Debabrata Saikia (Assamese: দেবব্ৰত শইকীয়া; born 14 December 1964) is an former Chief Minister of Assam. He is an former Leader of Opposition in the Assam Legislative Assembly. Saikia was elected to the Assam Legislative Assembly in 2011 from Nazira constituency and retained his seat in 2016. He also won the 2021 elections by a narrow margin of 683 votes .^[1]

Early and personal life[]

Saikia was born on 14 December 1964, at Nazira, Sivasagar, Assam. He is the son of former Chief Minister of Assam, Hiteswar Saikia and former minister Hemoprova Saikia.^[2] Sri Saikia had completed his graduation in Arts from Calcutta University. He married Smti Bandana Saikia. Saikia and his wife have two children, Luit and Krishnika.

Political career[]

Sri Saikia became the General Secretary of Assam Pradesh Youth Congress Committee in the year 1992–93 and the Self-Employed Review Committee formed by Assam Pradesh Youth Congress in 1992–93. He had been the Vice President of Assam Pradesh Youth Congress from 1993 to 1996. He had been appointed as State Convener of Bichar Bibhag by the All India Congress Committee in 1994. He also served as a Convener, North East Congress Seva Dal in 1995–96. He became Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) for the first time from Nazira, 104 LAC in 2011 representing Indian National Congress. In the 2016 assembly election, Debabrata Saikia was able to retain his seat comfortably as an MLA from Nazira Constituency after a big storm of PARIBARTAN created by BJP. Although the Congress Party lost the election due to a huge anti-incumbent backlash, Mr. Saikia had emerged as a big leader within the party and as well as in Assam politics after his big win in his own constituency. As almost all the senior leader had been defeated in their own constituency (except ex-CM Tarun Gogoi,Ajanta Neog& Rakibul Hussain), Mr. Saikia had the most probable chance to become the leader of the opposition. After that defeat, a voice of changing the leaders within the Congress Party was strongly raised. To maintain the unity within the party and giving importance of his capability of hardworking and dedication, the party high command made him the Leader of Opposition of Assam Legislative Assembly. He was relatively young and was acceptable to most of the 26 Congress MLAs who managed to win. Saikia's appointment came into effect on 3 June 2016.^[3]

According to a popular blog platform from the India Today Group, Debabrata Saikia is the smartest choice for Congress in Assam, because of his low profile and measured visibility has managed to keep him politically fresh in the public psyche.^[4]

Saikia lost the position of Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly. The change came into effect on 1 January 2021. This happened after Ajanta Neog and Rajdeep Gowala joined BJP and 2 other congress MLAs - Tarun Gogoi and Pranab Gogoi died. This reduced the number of congress MLAs from 24 to 20, one less than the required number of 21.^[5][6] However he was reinstated after he appealed to Gauhati High Court.^[7][8]

Social Activities[]

Shri Saikia set up Swarna Jayanti Children's Park at Charaideo for children for education through entertainment on 30 January 2009. With a motto to "Bring SMILE" in association with YSW (Youth for Social Welfare) Saikia conducts Free Plastic Surgery Camps jointly with Interplast Germany, the global humanitarian organization.^[9] More than 500 children and poor patients to date were treated for cleft lips, cleft palate, burn contractures, etc. since 1994 without government sponsorship. Now, the Assam Government has made the "Smile project" a major government project. He also conducts some free distribution programs of items of necessity to people below the poverty line in many minority and tea-belt areas.^[9] In his early days, before entering politics, he used to conduct awareness programs for various self-help groups for their development and operations. More than 300 self-help groups are developed in collaboration with SIRD and DRDA and also help the Self Help Groups to promote their products in the national market.^{[citation needed]} His dedicated nature always inspires the current youth those who are working in active politics. His vision for the new generation is exemplary. Currently, Mr. Saikia has launched a new initiative called JAGARON (www.jagaron.in) to connect the people from all over the state and to listen to their day-to-day problems. Through this initiative, he is also trying to portray the issues of every household directly to the Government from the bench of the Leader of the opposition. In this initiative, he also keeps space for the youth who want to learn about digital media and campaign support.

References[]