Sarbananda Sonowal, the chief minister-elect in Assam, arrived at the Bharatiya Janata Party office on Thursday evening to a boisterous crowd of people celebrating the party’s first ever electoral triumph in the State.
As he entered the office courtyard, the excited crowd tossed rose petals along with an assortment of red, green and yellow colours in the air. And Mr. Sonowal thanked them in return, exchanging handshakes and warm smiles.
He had every reason to celebrate. Despite being the Union Sports Minister, Mr. Sonowal contested the State Assembly elections from Majauli constituency, an old Congress bastion, and won with a whopping majority of 18, 923 votes.
Development for all“We will take everyone along as we truly believe in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s sab ka saath, sab ka vikaas (together with all, development for all) slogan,” said Mr. Sonowal, addressing the press conference.
The man whom Prime Minister Modi has publicly described as a “jewel,” Mr. Sonowal expressed his gratitude to the people of Assam, naming each community — Axoms, Marwaris, Bengali Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs.
“We will work for all. The big challenge is to create jobs for youth, preserve Assamese identity and stop infiltration from Bangladesh,” he said. Mr Sonowal had moved the Supreme Court to challenge the Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunals) Act in 2005, which led to the court scrapping the controversial act.
Thanks ModiThanking Prime Minister Modi for picking him as a chief ministerial candidate for Assam, Mr. Sonowal said: “I have a big responsibility on my shoulders and I’ll do everything to live up to the expectations of Modiji. It’s Modiji who showed the path of good governance to the country and I will bring that good governance to Assam.”
Student leaderBorn in 1969, Mr.Sonowal will be the youngest chief minister of Assam. He began his political career as an All Assam Students Union (AASU) activist. He worked his way up and served as its president between 1992 1999. Two years later, he joined the Asom Gana Parishad, AASU’s political wing, and was elected to the State Assembly the same year.
“He is a calm politician,” said Aprajita Bhuih, the BJP’s State spokesperson. “It’s his patience and clean track record that impressed the top BJP leadership and had him as the chief ministerial candidate.”
In 2004, Mr.Sonowal made his debut in the Lok Sabha election, defeating former Union Minister Paban Singh Ghatowar in Dibrugarh. But six years later he developed differences with the AGP leadership and in 2011 joined the BJP. He was appointed as the State BJP chief in 2012. He was instrumental in poaching several AGP leaders and bringng them under the BJP’s wing.
