Assam Don Bosco University held a solemn gathering at 10:30 a.m this morning in remembrance and celebration of the life of Sri Tarun Gogoi, former Chief Minister of Assam, who passed away on 23rd November evening due to post-Covid complications. He was 86 years old.
The Vice Chancellor, Fr (Dr) Stephen Mavely and the Directors paid tributes to Sri Tarun Gogoi in this meeting held online through Google Meet, hosted from the Vice Chancellor’s Office. The short gathering began with a delicate and melodious prayer song – Ave Maria, followed by tributes from the Vice Chancellor, Pro-Vice Chancellor and the Directors.
Reminiscing the multiple interactions he had with Shri Tarun Gogoi regarding the establishment of Don Bosco University in Assam, Fr. Stephen Mavely acknowledged that Sri Tarun Gogoi played a key role in the establishment of Don Bosco University. He said, “I remember my first meeting with him in February 2007 and told him that Don Bosco wants to start a University in Assam. He looked at me, smiled and said that he has never heard such a request and that Govt. of Assam does not even have legal provisions for starting of a new University. But then, he rang up the then Education Minister immediately and said that ‘I have Fr. Stephen here, and the Don Bosco Society wants to start a University, what can we do about it?’. They spoke on the phone for a while, and assured me as I left that he would see to it that the request is not forgotten. By May 2007, the Government of Assam passed ‘Assam Private Universities Act’ and by March 2008 we got a ‘Letter of Intent’ from the Govt. of Assam. A very fast process. Here at Don Bosco University, we considered him as a part of our family, always available, always deeply interested in how we were doing, always proud of his vital role in bringing this University into existence”.
Paying his tributes to the late Shri Tarun Gogoi, the Director of the School of Technology, Prof. Manoranjan Kalita said, “I fondly remember how he inaugurated our University and in one of our Convocations he said ‘We gave birth to a baby and I have come to see the health of our baby”.
The programme ended with another prayer song ‘Abide with me’, a prayer song to comfort each and every one of us on the demise of a person whose life testified that public service is a noble and joyous calling.
Below are some of the memorable moments frozen in time…
