Himanta Biswa Sarma

Since taking charge, Sarma has piloted several policies seemingly aligned with the Sangh agenda, including the passage of the Assam Cattle Preservation (Amendment) Act, calling “cow is our mother, its slaughter must stop”, demanded reverification of NRC, carried out demolition drives to evict “illegal encroachers”, raked up “threats to Hindus in Assam” and defended demolition of madrasas over alleged terror links.

Once considered Gogoi’s “blue-eyed boy”, Sarma’s relationship with the Congress stalwart, who passed away in 2021, came under strain from around 2011 as Sarma made no bones about his ambitions to lead the state. For many observers of Sarma’s political trajectory, which started with the All Assam Students’ Union, it was a deja vu moment as he was first elected as an MLA in 2001, defeating Bhrigu Kumar Phukan, his one-time mentor.

Sarma’s ties with Gogoi further soured as the latter introduced his son Gaurav, now a two-term Lok Sabha MP, into politics.

As reports of his rift with Gogoi started surfacing, Sarma tweeted on April 28, 2012, “With saline drip at hand last election I campaigned and did everything (under) my command to make Tarun Gogoi CM. Nobody should teach me loyalty.” Matters came to head after Rahul Gandhi rejected his claim to the CM’s chair even as he claimed the support of 52 out of 79 Congress MLAs in July 2014.

A year later, he joined the BJP. After resigning as an MLA, he wrote to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, slamming Rahul. In the past, Sarma has even accused the former Congress president of “feeding biscuits” to his dog Pidi “while we wanted to discuss Assam’s issues”.

Nevertheless, Sarma’s induction into the BJP was not without hiccups, particularly over his alleged role in the Louis Berger case being probed by the CBI. In fact, days before Sarma joined the BJP, Sonowal and Kiren Rijiju, now the Union Law Minister, had addressed a press conference, along with party spokesperson Sambit Patra, where they had prominently held up the allegations in a bid to counter the Congress. Many also saw in it an attempt by Sonowal to torpedo Sarma’s imminent entry.

Cut to 2022. While Sonowal finds himself in charge of the shipping ministry at the Centre, Sarma is the undisputed leader of the BJP in Assam, the convenor of the Northeast Democratic Alliance, and its newest posterboy in national politics.