Sarbananda Sonowal’s induction into the Union council of ministers has ended speculation about his role two months after he was replaced as chief minister even as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) returned to power in Assam for a second time in a row under his leadership. His former state Cabinet colleague Himanta Biswa Sarma succeeded Sonowal, 58, as the chief minister in May.
Sarma was among those who congratulated Sonowal over his induction. “We are grateful to you for steering so successfully for five years. Your enormous administrative experience and acumen shall immensely benefit the government,” Sarma tweeted on Wednesday.
This will be Sonowal’s second stint in the Union ministry. He was the minister of state (independent charge) for Youth Affairs and Sports in the first government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi from 2014 to 2016. He returned to Assam to head the first BJP-led coalition government in the state in 2016.
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Sonowal, who will now be in charge of the ministries of Ports, Shipping, Waterways as well as the Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani, Siddha, Sowa-rigpa, and Homeopathy, is known as jatiya nayak (hero of the community) for his role in Supreme Court’s scrapping of Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunals) Act in 2005. He petitioned the top court against the law, which was applicable only to Assam. The law shifted the onus of proving one is an undocumented immigrant on the accuser and police and not the suspected foreigner. In the Foreigners Act, applicable across India, the onus of proving one‘s citizenship lies on the person suspected to be an undocumented immigrant.
A graduate in arts, law, communication, and journalism from Dibrugarh and Gauhati universities, Sonowal headed the All-Assam Students Union from 1992 to 1999. He was the chairman of the North-East Students Union from 1994 to 2004 before he joined Asom Gana Parishad and went on to become a Lok Sabha member.
{{/usCountry}}A graduate in arts, law, communication, and journalism from Dibrugarh and Gauhati universities, Sonowal headed the All-Assam Students Union from 1992 to 1999. He was the chairman of the North-East Students Union from 1994 to 2004 before he joined Asom Gana Parishad and went on to become a Lok Sabha member.
{{/usCountry}}Sonowal, who was first elected to the state assembly in 2001, joined the BJP in 2011 and quickly rose to become the party’s state chief the next year. He was serving his second term as BJP’s Assam chief when he led the party to power in 2016. Sonowal is seen to be deeply religious, soft-spoken and someone with a clean image. He is known for his physical fitness and for being very particular about his health.
Sonowal, who was elected from the Majuli assembly seat in Assam this year, is expected to get the Rajya Sabha seat Biswajit Daimary vacated this year. Daimary is now the state assembly Speaker.