PM mourns death of Assam editor P.G. Baruah

GUWAHATI

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Monday (December 15, 2025), mourned the death of Prafulla Gobinda Baruah, the owner, editor, and managing director of The Assam Tribune group, which publishes the oldest running English newspaper in the northeast.

Baruah breathed his last at a private hospital in Guwahati at 9:30 p.m. on Sunday (December 14).

“Saddened by the passing away of PG Baruah Ji, Editor and Managing Director of The Assam Tribune Group. He will be remembered for his contribution to the media world,” the Prime Minister said in a post on the social media platform X.

Baruah was also passionate about furthering Assam’s progress and popularising the State’s culture, Mr. Modi said. “My thoughts are with his family and admirers. Om Shanti,” he said.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma also expressed grief over Baruah’s demise. The latter said Baruah was a towering figure in the State’s journalistic landscape.

“His lifelong dedication to principled journalism and his immense contribution to literature, education and public life will always be cherished. Deepest condolences to his bereaved family, colleagues and countless admirers,” the Chief Minister said.

A Padma Shri awardee, Baruah was born in eastern Assam’s Dibrugarh in 1932. He began his newspaper career in 1962 and, in 1964, received a scholarship to study journalism and printing technology at the Thomson Foundation in the U.K.

He took over as the managing director of The Assam Tribune group in 1966, guiding the institution through decades of political, social, and technological change, while protecting its credibility and independence.

His final rites were performed with full State honours in Guwahati on Monday (December 15). Assam’s Finance Minister Ajanta Neog, Water Resources Minister Pijush Hazarika, and the All Assam Students’ Union’s chief advisor Samujjal Bhattacharyya were among several dignitaries who paid their respects.