Will BJP's Sarbananda Sonowal retain power in Assam?

The BJP is gearing up for the Assam Assembly elections 2021 with the Sarbananda Sonowal-Himanta Biswa Sarma duo leading the side again.

In 2016, when the Sonowal-led BJP managed to oust the Congress government which had ruled the northeastern state for 15 consecutive years, he emerged as a ‘national hero' for the party that had faced a drubbing in the Delhi and Bihar Assembly elections that year.

Sonowal was sworn in as the 14th Chief Minister of Assam in May 2016 and is the only tribal chief minister of the state who completed his tenure apart from Jogen Hazarika who had held the post for a period of 94 days in 1979.

Also read: Congress kept Assam divided for votes, says PM Modi in Assam polls campaign

Sonowal's surname represents the Sonowal-Kachari tribe that was once known for extracting gold from riverbeds. His career was shaped when he was part of the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) where he served as president from 1992 to 1999. He was also part of a six-year agitation demanding identification and deportation of illegal immigrants was also launched by the union in 1979.

In 1999, Sonowal joined the Asom Gana Parishad and was elected legislator from eastern Assam’s Moran constituency in 2001. He also won from the Dibrugarh Lok Sabha seat in 2004.

His political career, however, came to the fore when, in 2005, he got the contentious Illegal Migration (Determination by Tribunal) Act, 1983 struck down by the Supreme Court. The Act, famously known as the IMDT Act, mandated that the burden of proving citizenship rested on the accuser, not the accused, which made detection of illegal immigrants in Assam impossible. The court had struck down the IMDT Act as unconstitutional.

Hailed as a ‘jatiyanayak’ (national hero), Sonowal joined the BJP in 2011 in the party's attempt to expand its reach in the northeastern state. His identification changed from a regional politician to a national one after his victory from the Lakhimpur Lok Sabha seat in 2014.

While campaigning during the 2016 Assembly polls in Assam, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had called Sonowal a ‘diamond’. Proving his stronghold in the state, Sonawal won the election from the Majuli constituency -- the world's largest river island and the seat of Vaishnavite culture -- and is set to contest from the same seat again this year.

The 126-member Assam Legislative Assembly is going to polls in three phases on March 27, April 1 and April 6.

Is Sonowal still the BJP's CM face?

The BJP has said that it will not announce the chief ministerial candidate before the Assam polls and a decision in this regard will be taken by its Parliamentary Board at the time of forming the next government. This is contrary to the position in 2016 when the BJP had projected then Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal as its chief ministerial face before the elections were held.

Incumbent Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal has pointed out that the ultimate decision of selecting a person for the chief minister chair in the new government will be that of the party's parliamentary board.

The 2016 elections in Assam had given a fractured mandate and no party got an absolute majority. The BJP became the single largest party with 60 MLAs, while its allies the Asom Gana Parishad and the BPF had won 14 and 12 seats respectively. The ruling coalition also had the support of an independent MLA.

(With PTI inputs)