Sarbananda Sonowal(Born: 31 October 1962)is an Indian politician from Assam who is the current Cabinet Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways and Cabinet Minister of AYUSH in the Government of India.
A proud moment for North East people of Assam that Sonowal has been given the responsibility as BJP’s highest policy-making committee member. He is a Member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha (Upper House of India’s Parliament) from Assam and also a member of the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs.A former Chief Minister of Assam and a former Member of the Legislative Assembly (India) in Assam Legislative Assembly.
Sonowal earlier served as the Assam state President of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from 2012 to 2014 and again in 2015 to 2016.He has also served as the Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs, Government of India, from 2014 to 2016. He was chosen to be the Chief Minister of Assam after the 2016 Assam Legislative Assembly election and he became the first Chief Minister of Assam from Bharatiya Janata Party. During the cabinet reshuffle on 7 July 2021, he was inducted Cabinet minister in the 2nd Modi Cabinet.
Himanta Biswa Sarma (born 1 February 1969) is an Indian politician serving as the 15th and incumbent Chief Minister of Assam. A former member of the Indian National Congress political party, Sarma joined the Bharatiya Janata Party on 23 August 2015.
While Sarbananda Sonowal was the CM candidate, it was Himanta Biswa Sarma who was the architect of BJP’s historic win in Assam in 2016. While in the government HBS acted as the super-CM. He had complete control over govt affairs and the BJP appointed him as its incharge of all of
North Eastern States. His political capital was instrumental in forming BJP governments in Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Tripura while NDA held on to Nagaland, Mizoram and Meghalaya. In a way, he made Northeast Congress mukt! Himanta Bishwa Sharma, fondly known as MAMA amongst his followers and well-wishers, started his mainstream political career as a Congressman. He badly lost the 1996 Assam Assembly elections, his first ever, on a Congress ticket. Thereafter he went to visit the then Prime Minister of India, Late PV Narasimha Rao ji who
told him to forget the defeat and focus on the issues of the people of his constituency. Since then, he has never looked back and has on multiple occasions single handedly won elections for his party.
Sonowal delivered a good, squeaky-clean, corruption-free administration while Sarma stabilized the BJP presence in the North-East, in Arunachal and Manipur, pushing the traditional Congress to the background. As such, both of them deserve the plum post. In 2016, Sarma could not be made CM as it was then only one year since he defected from Congress to BJP. There was also a lot of opposition in the BJP to his being admitted in the party itself. How would BJP insiders agree to his becoming CM then? That is why, he is being made CM now, having been in BJP for 6 years. Also, Sonowal has already enjoyed CM post, so Sarma can right-royally become CM now, as he has made Lotus blooms aplenty in the North-East.
Both Sarma and Sonowal come from the All Assam Students union (ASU) led Assam agitation against illegal immigration from East Bengal/East Pakistan/Bangladesh. ASU received its first political support from the BJP under Advani-Vajpayee as they were agitating for an NRC. So, much of the political base of the BJP in Assam comes from the popular movement of the 1980s. The current reelection campaign was largely led by Sarma as BJP faced protests against CAA. Infact, without him, the BJP might have lost the state as the Congress alliance was formidable in terms of numbers. Clearly, a large part of the victory is because of HBS. He is basically Amit Shah and Narendra Modi combined. He has the political brain of Shah and the popularity of Modi.
Sonowal has done many notable works- some are well- discussed and some are silent services which are not known to each and every person. He obviously has done many works, formulated important policies with the help of his government and ministers, One more thing is that Sonowal is seen as a soft character who is more a behind-the-scenes administrator. Sarma is a politician who likes to dominate over his opponents. He has basically turned the election into a civilizational battle for the protection of Assamese culture.
Sarbananda Sonowal is a visionary Politician who has done great reforms most effectively in an anti-corruption drive ,it was a milestone under his leadership.He was the only CM who popularised the tourism of Assam .His achievements as a Minister is noteworthy, under his assistance the real deserving hard working members of his team shall be praised and applauded in the long run .