Kabindra Purkayastha

Kabindra Purkayastha (born 15 December 1931^[1]) is a politician and former union minister of state of India. He served as minister of state for communication in Atal Bihari Vajpayee government from 1998 to 1999. He is a senior leader of Bharatiya Janata Party in Assam, India.

Kabindra Purkayastha
Kabindra Purkayastha in 2016
Minister of State for Communications Government of India
In office 20 March 1998 – 13 October 1999
Prime Minister	Atal Bihari Vajpayee
Preceded by	Beni Prasad Verma
Succeeded by	Tapan Sikdar
Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha
In office 2009 — 2014
Preceded by	Santosh Mohan Dev
Succeeded by	Sushmita Dev
Constituency	Silchar
In office 1998 — 1999
Preceded by	Santosh Mohan Dev
Succeeded by	Santosh Mohan Dev
Constituency	Silchar
In office 1991 — 1996
Preceded by	Santosh Mohan Dev
Succeeded by	Santosh Mohan Dev
Constituency	Silchar
Personal details
Born	(1931-12-15) 15 December 1931 (age 93) Kamarkhal, Sylhet district, India (now in Bangladesh)
Political party	Bharatiya Janata Party
Children	Kanad Purkayastha

His son Kanad Purkayastha is a current Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha from Assam.

Early life

He was born in 1931 in Kamarkhal in Sylhet district now in Bangladesh and studied M.A. at Gauhati University.

Political career

He was first elected to Lok Sabha in 1991 from Silchar constituency in Assam. He was re-elected to the Lok Sabha in 1998 from the same constituency. In 2009, he was elected to the 15th Lok Sabha, defeating heavyweight candidates Santosh Mohan Dev of INC and Badruddin Ajmal of AUDF from Silchar. But in 2014 LS-election, he was defeated by Sushmita Dev (INC), daughter of Santosh Mohan Dev, despite the Modi-wave in his favour. He has been awarded with honorary doctorate degree in September 2024 for his contribution to social life.