Tinsukia/Bongaigaon, July 10: The Congress in Assam lost two veteran leaders today.
Rameswar Dhanowar, 78, and Methias Tudu, 93, breathed their last in Dibrugarh and Cooch Behar in Bengal respectively.
Dhanowar passed away after suffering a prolonged illness at Assam Medical College and Hospital in Dibrugarh, around 465km east of Guwahati, this morning. His body was taken to his residence in Digboi in the neighbouring Tinsukia district in Upper Assam.
His last rites were performed at Digboi crematorium amid inclement weather. Thousands of Congress workers, well-wishers and others turned up to pay their last respects. His eldest son lit the funeral pyre.
"After the rituals at Dhanowar's house, his body was carried in an open vehicle to a private college run by his son, of which he was a founder chairman. Later, his body was kept at Rajiv Bhawan where Congress MLA Durga Bhumij, BJP MLA from Digboi Suren Phukan, BJP MLA from Tinsukia Sanjoy Kishan, former Congress MLA Jiban Tara Ghatowar and former minister of state Dileshwar Tanti, among others, paid their last respects. A minute's silence was observed followed by a condolence meeting," said Assam PCC spokesperson Manoranjan Borgohain.
Condoling the leader's death, Phukan said, "We have lost a good politician and a great human being with a big heart."
From thrice being a minister to eight-time MLA, Dhanowar's political career scaled new heights with every passing year ever since he entered politics, starting his affiliation with Assam Chah Mazdoor Sangha (ACMS), in the early '70s.
He got elected as an MLA from Digboi constituency for the first time in 1978 and remained undefeated until 2016. He did not fight the 2016 Assembly election because of illness and his son, Gautam Dhanowar, got the ticket but lost to BJP candidate Suren Phukan.
In his political journey, he found a berth as minister in the cabinet of Hiteshwar Saikia, and his minister status continued for two more terms in former chief minister Tarun Gogoi's cabinet with portfolios like labour and employment and excise.
Dhanowar held many important posts in the Congress for nearly four decades, besides having the distinction of being a former chairman of Assam Petrochemical Limited and the OBC and MOBC Assembly committee.
Dhanowar was a school teacher before entering politics. He is survived by his wife, three sons and two daughters.
Tudu, a former Congress legislator from Gossaigaon Assembly seat, passed away at noon today at a private hospital in Cooch Behar in Bengal.
Tudu was admitted to the hospital after he suffered a stroke last week at his residence at Grahampur, 15km southwest from Gossaigaon subdivisional headquarters. Cooch Behar is 80km from Grahampur.
He left behind his wife, three daughters and a son.
After graduating from Cotton College in Guwahati, Tudu joined Grahampur High School as a teacher before joining the Congress in 1957. He won the Gossaigaon seat six times in a row. His seventh and last win was in 2001.
When Histeswar Saikia was chief minister, Tudu was appointed labour and employment minister in 1991.
In 2001, he again won the seat and became revenue minister in the Tarun Gogoi government.
The Assam PCC and Opposition leader Debabrata Saikia condoled Dhanowar and Tudu's demise.