For the 53-year-old Sarbananda Sonowal, taking BJP and allies to victory over the three-term continuous rule of Congress under Tarun Gogoi is perhaps the biggest victory in his political career. Before the BJP fielding Sonowal as the Chief Minister candidate from Assam, he was taking full-time charge of the Ministry for Sports & Youth Affairs.
Sonowal is a Member of Parliament representing Lakhimpur Lok Sabha constituency in Assam. He was previously the president for BJP Assam Pradesh and is currently a National Executive Member of the party.
Currently, Sonowal is leading from Majuli constituency in Assam and is expected to win the seat and take charge from outgoing chief minister Tarun Gogoi in coming days.
But much before BJP and Asom Gana Parishad, which he represented till 2011, Sonowal was the president of the All Assam Students Union from 1992 to 1999. He entered the Lok Sabha for the first time in 2004 after defeating former Union Minister Paban Singh Ghatowar in Dibrugarh.
As for his immediate challenges, Sonowal lists cross-border infiltration, flooding, unemployment and bridging the gap between various communities that reside in Assam. "Our main target is to protect the interests of bonafide citizens. It doesn’t matter if they are Hindus or Muslims,” said Sonowal on the morning of May 19th.
As the Union sports minister, Sonowal wants to improve the standard of sports in Assam too. With Guwahati being one of the venues shortlisted to host the Under-17 World Cup, Sonowal said recently that the Assamese capital is gearing up in full swing to be ready for the competition next year.
As per the BJP Assam Vision Document 2016-2025, the next state government will work closely with the Centre for “complete sealing of the Indo-Bangladesh border in the state” if it was voted to power. The document also assured the people that a law would be enacted to deal “sternly” with industries, businesses, Small and Medium Enterprises or any other agencies employing infiltrators.
Various political experts consider the status of Bangladeshi immigrants as the major issue before any state government as Assam and Bangladesh share a 262-km border. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh has already promised to complete a barbed wire fence that is supposed to be constructed along the porous border by the end of 2016.
BW Reporters
Ashish Sinha is an experienced business journalist who has covered FMCG, auto, infrastructure, tourism, telecom among several other beats. Ashish has keen interest in the regulatory scenario impacting different sectors. He writes on aviation, railways, post and telegraph, infrastructure, defence, media & entertainment, among a wide variety of other subjects.
