Omeo Kumar Das

Omeo Kumar Das Biography

Omeo Kumar Das was an Indian independence activist, social worker and politician from the state of Assam. Associated with Indian national congress, he served as a state legislator for long 17 years from 1951 to 1967, representing Dhekiajuli in Assam. He was succeeded by his wife Pushpalata Das for next two terms. She was also an Indian independence activist, social worker, gandhian and politician, who stood with him and they worked together for many years. Both of them have been honoured with the third highest civilian honour of the Padma Bhushan by government of India. When Omeo Kumar Das received the honour in 1963, his wife was honoured with the same in 1999. Pushpalata Das withdrew from active politics and concentrated more on social service following the death of Omeo in 1975.

Omeo Kumar Das was born on 21 May 1895 in Nagaon, Assam. His early schooling was done from Tezpur. He continued with his studies in Guwahati and Kolkata. He got attracted to the activities of Indian independence activists while studying at Kolkata. He participated in Civil disobedience movement of 1930 in Assam and was jailed many times till 1947. He successfully contested the Assam legislative Assembly and the Constituent Assembly elections of 1937 and 1945 respectively from Dhekiajuli, and he continued as an MLA from the same constituency for the next 17 years after independence.

He married Pushpalata Das, who also followed the same path and principles. They had a good age gap of 20 years. The couple had one daughter. After Indian independence, they continued with their political career. Das couple focused their activities in Dhekiajuli in Assam, where Omeo served as MLA from 1951 to 1967. Pushpalata Das was nominated to the Rajya Sabha in 1951 and held the position 1961. When her husband vacated Dhekiajuli constituency after long 17 years, she successfully contested from the same seat in 1967. She repeated the success in 1971 also. Following her husband’s death in 1975, she withdrew from active politics and concentrated more on social service.

Published: February 27, 2019

Updated: February 27, 2019