Veteran Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and former Union Minister Kabindra Purkayastha passed away at the age of 94 or 95. Widely regarded as the patriarch of the BJP in Northeast India, Purkayastha was instrumental in building the party's organizational base in the region. He served as a Union Minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led NDA government and was a three-term Lok Sabha member from Silchar. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, among other leaders, paid tribute to his contributions to society and Assam's progress.