Padma Shri Gita Upadhyay, a renowned educationist, writer, and founder president of the Bharatiya Gorkha Parisangh (BGP) Assam State Committee, passed away at her residence in Chandmari, Tezpur, on Monday night. She was 87 years old. According to the BGP, Upadhyay died at around 9:10 pm due to age-related ailments.
A delegation of the organisation, led by working president Thandi Newar, visited her residence to pay tribute and offer condolences to her family. The delegation draped the BGP flag over her glass casket and observed a minute’s silence. Speakers recalled her role in establishing and expanding the organisation, as well as her contribution to the Indian Gorkha community.
Born on February 14, 1939, at Gangmouthan in the then Darrang district, now Biswanath district, Upadhyay was the granddaughter of freedom fighter Babu Chabilal Upadhyaya, the first elected president of the Assam Pradesh Congress Committee. She retired as head of the Department of Political Science at Sibsagar College and was the first woman from Assam’s Gorkha community to obtain a postgraduate degree. Upadhyay received several prestigious awards for her contributions to literature, including the Sahitya Akademi Translation Prize in 2012 for translating the Assamese classic ‘Karengor Ligiri’ into Gorkha as ‘Darbarki Susare’, and the Sahitya Akademi Award in 2016 for her Gorkha-language novel ‘Janmabhumi Mero Swadesh’, based on the life and struggles of her grandfather.
The Government of India conferred the Padma Shri on her in 2025. She was also awarded the Sati Sadhani Literary Award by the Assam government earlier this year. In 2024, the BGP honoured her with the Rashtriya Gorkha Gaurav Samman.
Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma expressed grief over her death, describing her as a distinguished educationist and eminent litterateur who enriched Assamese and Nepali literature. The BGP Assam State Committee has declared a week-long mourning period in her honour. The Sonitpur district administration said her last rites would be held with full state honours in Tezpur on Wednesday morning.
