GUWAHATI: The rise of former Assam Congress minister Ripun Bora has been like the proverbial phoenix. Once forgotten and ignored by many in the Congress after he got entangled in a murder case and another of bribery in which he was arrested by the CBI, Bora has returned with a bang. He was elected to the Rajya Sabha in March this year and was made the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president last week.
The CBI had arrested the bureaucrat-turned-politician in Delhi in 2008 for his alleged attempt to bribe a CBI official with Rs 10 lakh to get his name cleared in the murder case. Four years later, he was acquitted by Delhi High Court in the bribery case. In 2014, a local court in Assam “discharged” him in the case.
When he was arrested, many in Assam thought his political career was over, but his acquittal gave the Congress a leader to pin hopes on changing its fortunes following its poll debacle.
In September 2000, Adivasi student leader Daniel Topno was murdered in northern Assam’s Gohpur. Bora was implicated in the case by his political rival Ganesh Kutum of the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP). Ahead of the 1996 Assembly polls, the Congress had denied a ticket to Topno and fielded Bora against Kutum. Topno contested unsuccessfully as an independent. Bora also lost. Kutum, the former Assembly Speaker, died of illness in 2008.
“Although I was confident of being acquitted, I never thought I will return the way I did. When Anjan Dutta became PCC chief in 2015, my name was also in the reckoning. I thought I may become PCC chief after his term. His demise in June necessitated the appointment of a new PCC chief, and I was appointed,” he told The Sunday Standard. “He was a victim of a political rivalry,” said Congress leader Apurba Bhattacharya.