From the tumultuous world of student politics to the pinnacle of the chief minister’s office, relinquishing it to the most powerful minister of his cabinet, and then chosen as a cabinet minister by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the BJP's Dibrugarh Lok Sabha candidate Sarbananda Sonowal’s political journey has been predictable, though marked by some twists and turns along the way.
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Sonowal all set to win Dibrugarh Lok Sabha seat having established a comfortable lead of 2,76,397 votes against his nearest rival and united opposition candidate Lurinjyoti Gogoi. Sonowal has so far polled 6,87,647 while Gogoi secured 4,11,250 votes.
As a dynamic student leader who went on to join the state’s most prominent regional party, then switching to the national right-wing party, Sonowal was Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s obvious choice as the chief minister of Assam when he scripted BJP's historic win for the first time in the Northeast in 2016.
However, during the 2021 assembly elections, the party opted not to project Sonowal or any other leader as the Chief Ministerial candidate.
Instead, the powerful minister in his cabinet, Himanta Biswa Sarma, was elevated to the top post after the elections.
Nevertheless, Sonowal, who is believed to have the Prime Minister's trust (as evidenced by his inclusion in Modi's initial cabinet as the lone representative from the North East), didn't remain sidelined for long. He was soon promoted to the Union cabinet with significant portfolios including Shipping, Waterways, Port, and Ayush in the subsequent reshuffle that same year.
The Rajya Sabha MP, a law graduate, is considered by most as an honest politician who furthered the party’s fight against corruption in the state and united the different communities with his oft-repeated lines ‘Barak-Brahmaputra-Plains-Hills’, symbolising his role as the unifier of the diverse indigenous population of the state.
His tenure faced its toughest test during the widespread protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), with his former allies from the All Assam Students Union (AASU) accusing him of failing to protect the interests of the indigenous populace.
Sonowal, 62, was accused of failing to convince the BJP government at the Centre to not bring the Bill in the Parliament which they claimed compromised the interests of the indigenous population.
This was viewed by the students organization, youths and many in the state as the "ultimate betrayal" by a man who was once bestowed with the title of ‘Jatiya Nayak’ (Leader of the Community) after the scrapping of the controversial Illegal Migrants' Determination by Tribunal (IMDT) Act by the Supreme Court in 2005 which Sonowal had challenged as AASU president.
Sonowal's foray into politics began with his joining the All Assam Students' Union (AASU) where he served as its president from 1992 to 1999 and also became the chairman of North East Students' Organisation (NESO) from 1996 to 2000.
From AASU, he predictably went on to join the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) in 2001, founded by his erstwhile seniors in the students' organisation, and was elected the party's MLA from Upper Assam's Moran constituency in 2001.
In 2004, he went on to successfully contest the Lok Sabha polls wresting the Dibrugarh parliamentary seat for the first time from the Congress by defeating former Union Minister Paban Singh Ghatowar.
Sonowal left the AGP in January 2011 following differences with the party leadership and went on to join the BJP a month later in the presence of then party president Nitin Gadkari.
He went on to become the BJP state unit president in 2012 and was credited with raising the party's tally to seven from the earlier four in the 2014 parliamentary polls.
He, himself, wrested the Lakhimpur constituency from former Union Minister Ranee Narah of the Congress and was made the Union Minister of State for Sports and Youth Development.
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Sonowal, who belongs to the Sonowal-Kachari tribe, had entered the state assembly twice from Majuli, the world's largest river island and the seat of Vaishnavite culture, which he upgraded as an administrative district during his tenure as Chief Minister.
After becoming Union Minister in 2021, Sonowal was elected to the Rajya Sabha from the state.
Born on October 31,1962 in Mulukgaon in Dibrugarh district as the youngest of Jibeswar Sonowal and Dineswari Sonowal’s eight offsprings, Sonowal is a bachelor and a devout follower of Assam's renowned Vaishnav saints Sankardeva and Madhavdeva.
