Tarun Ram Phukan

Who was Tarun Ram Phukan?

Tarun Ram Phukan was a prominent leader of Assam. He was popularly known as Deshbhakta. He was educated in Cotton Collegiate School, Guwahati and Presidency College, Calcutta. Later, he moved to the Bar from Inner Temple in London. He educated as a lawyer but also served as Lecturer in Earle Law College in Guwahati.

He was a prominent member of a political organization then named Assam Association till 1920. Phookan played an important part in forming the Assam Branch of the Indian National Congress in 1921. He was elected its first President. When the Non-Cooperation Movement was started, Phookan took a leading part in it and he toured various parts of Assam carrying the message of Mahatma Gandhi. In connection with the Non-Cooperation Movement, he was sentenced to one year's rigorous imprisonment in 1921.

Phookan became the Chairman of the Reception Committee,Pandu Session of the Indian National Congress in 1926. He also served as Chairman of the Municipal Board and Local Board of Guwahati and undertook several programmes for the upliftment of the under-privileged sections of society. He established a Leper Asylum in Guahati. He was a great orator and also a prominent writer.