Himanta Biswa Sarma becomes the next prime minister of Assam after being unanimously elected chairman of the BJP legislative party in the state. He was elevated after his name was suggested by the outgoing CM Sarbananda Sonowal and others in attendance.
Himanta Biswa Sarma has evolved over time into a force that is more dominant in stature than the former Assam CM Sarbananda Sonowal. Himanta Biswa Sarma resigned from the Tarun Gogoi-led congressional government prior to the 2014 Lok Sabha polls and resigned from the Congress Party in 2015.
Next year, the BJP wrested power from the 15-year-old Tarun Gogoi government.
Himanta Biswa Sarma, who leads the BJP’s mission as “Congress Mukt Bharat” in the northeast, has proven to be a political asset in expanding the BJP’s base in the northeast – an area where the Saffron Party was absent until a few years ago before – since moving from Congress.
Himanta Biswa Sarma will now be the next prime minister of the state, from handling the Covid-19 pandemic in Assam as health minister to steering the BJP from CAA agitation.
HIMANTA SARMA AS A DISTORTED CONGRESS MAN
Himanta Biswa Sarma joined Congress in the 1990s. Himanta Biswa Sarma became an MLA in 2001 from the constituency of the Jalukbari Congregation. Biswa Sarma was re-elected for the third time in a row in 2006 and 2011.
Also read | Himanta Biswa Sarma becomes the next Prime Minister of Assam to be elected party leader
During his Congressional rule in the state, Himanta Biswa Sarma held multiple portfolios, including serving as Minister of State for Agriculture, Planning and Development, Finance, Health, and Education before joining the BJP.
Following the defeat of Congress in the Lok Sabha polls, an ambitious Himanta Biswa Sarma Tarun Gogoi’s leadership in Assam challenged.
Rajdeep Sardesai reports on an incident in his book ‘2019: How Modi Won India’: “An early victim of the war within the party was the ambitious Assam leader Himanta Biswa Sarma. The defeat of Congress in the Lok Sabha elections in 2014 opened one Time window for Sarma to challenge veteran three-time Prime Minister Tarun Gogoi. “
“You have to bring about a generation change in Congress if you want to win the next elections in Assam,” said Rajdeep Sardesai Himanta Biswa Sarma as saying to the congress leadership.
While Sonia Gandhi and the late Ahmed Patel had assured Himanta Sarma that he would be named the next CM, Mallikarjun Kharge, who watched Sarma’s claims that he was supported by a majority of MLAs, confirmed this.
Rahul Gandhi, however, marked Himanta Sarma’s uprising with the red flag, which led to his resignation from Congress. He later joined the Bharatiya Janata Party. The next year, Assam was in BJP’s grip.
HIMANTA BISWA SARMA – THE BJP STRONG
Despite being the face of the party in the 2016 general election, Sarbananda Sonowal was credited with the first BJP government in Assam Himanta Biswa Sarma, whose organizational skills and in-depth knowledge of Congress cadre and electoral strategy proved to be a huge plus.
The post of Chief Minister went to Sarbananda Sonowal and Himanta Sarma was named Chief Convener of the North-East Democratic Alliance (NEDA), a BJP-led front of anti-congressional parties.
Himanta Sarma reasserted himself in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls by channeling the party’s efforts to allay public concern through the National Register of Citizens (NRC). In the past few months, it was Himanta Sarma who helped the BJP escape a difficult situation through the anti-CAA movement.
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