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Sarbananda Sonowal | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Official portrait, 2021 | |
| Union Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways | |
| Assumed office 7 July 2021 | |
| Prime Minister | Narendra Modi |
| Union Minister of AYUSH | |
| In office 7 July 2021 – 10 June 2024 | |
| Prime Minister | Narendra Modi |
| Preceded by | Shripad Naik |
| Succeeded by | Prataprao Ganpatrao Jadhav (as MoS I/C) |
| Member of Parliament,Rajya Sabha | |
| In office 1 October 2021 – 4 June 2024 | |
| Preceded by | Biswajit Daimary[1] |
| Constituency | Assam |
| Member of the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs | |
| Assumed office 12 July 2021 | |
| Prime Minister | Narendra Modi |
| 14th Chief Minister of Assam | |
| In office 24 May 2016 – 10 May 2021 | |
| Governor | Padmanabha Acharya Banwarilal Purohit Jagdish Mukhi |
| Preceded by | Tarun Gogoi |
| Succeeded by | Himanta Biswa Sarma |
| Union Minister of State for Youth Affairs and Sports | |
| In office 26 May 2014 – 23 May 2016[2] | |
| Prime Minister | Narendra Modi |
| Preceded by | Jitendra Singh |
| Succeeded by | Jitendra Singh |
| Union Minister of State for Entrepreneurship and Skill Development | |
| In office 26 May 2014 – 9 November 2014 | |
| Prime Minister | Narendra Modi |
| Preceded by | office established |
| Succeeded by | Rajiv Pratap Rudy |
| Member of Parliament,Lok Sabha | |
| Assumed office 4 June 2024 | |
| Preceded by | Rameshwar Teli |
| Constituency | Dibrugarh, Assam |
| In office 16 May 2014 – 23 May 2016 | |
| Preceded by | Ranee Narah |
| Succeeded by | Pradan Baruah |
| Constituency | Lakhimpur, Assam |
| In office 13 May 2004 – 15 May 2009 | |
| Preceded by | Paban Singh Ghatowar |
| Succeeded by | Paban Singh Ghatowar |
| Constituency | Dibrugarh, Assam |
| Member ofAssam Legislative Assembly | |
| In office 19 May 2016 – 28 September 2021 | |
| Preceded by | Rajib Lochan Pegu |
| Succeeded by | Bhuban Gam |
| Constituency | Majuli |
| In office 13 May 2001 – 16 May 2004 | |
| Preceded by | Joy Chandra Nagbanshi |
| Succeeded by | Jibantara Ghatowar |
| Constituency | Moran |
| President of Bharatiya Janata Party, Assam | |
| In office 2012–2014 | |
| Preceded by | Ranjit Dutta |
| Succeeded by | Siddhartha Bhattacharya |
| In office 2015–2016 | |
| Preceded by | Siddhartha Bhattacharya |
| Succeeded by | Ranjeet Kumar Dass |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1962-10-31)31 October 1962 (age 63) |
| Party | Bharatiya Janata Party(2011-present) |
| Other political affiliations | Asom Gana Parishad(2001-11) |
| Residence |
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| Alma mater | |
| Profession | Lawyer |
Sarbananda Sonowal (Assamese:[xɔɹbanɔndɔxʊnʊwal]; born 31 October 1962) is an Indian politician who is serving as the 2ndMinister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways since 2021.[3][4] He also has been aMember of the Rajya Sabha representing Assam since 2021[5] and also a member of theCabinet Committee on Political Affairs since 2021.[6] He previously served as the 14thChief Minister of Assam (2016–2021), as a member ofAssam Legislative Assembly for Majuli (2016–2021) and for Moran (2001–2004). Sonowal earlier served as the Assam state unit President ofBharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from 2012 to 2014 and again from 2015 to 2016.[7] He also served as the Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs, Government of India, from 2014 to 2016 and the Minister of State for Entrepreneurship and Skill Development from 2014 to 2014 and the member of the Lok Sabha from Lakhimpur from 2014 to 2016 and from Dibrugarh from 2004 to 2009. He was also the member of theAsom Gana Parishad from 2001 to 2011.[8][9][10]
Sarbananda Sonowal was born on 31 October 1962 to aSonowal family in Muluk Gaon located in theDibrugarh district of Assam to Jibeswar Sonowal(father) and Dineswari Sonowal(mother).
Sonowal did his schooling at Don Bosco High School, Dibrugarh.[11] He completed hisB.A.(Hons) inEnglish fromDibrugarh Hanumanbax Surajmall Kanoi College underDibrugarh University and hisLLB frommGauhati University andB.C.J fromGauhati University.[3]
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Sarbananda Sonowal was the President of Assam's oldest student body, theAll Assam Students Union (AASU) from 1992 to 1999. After that, he became a member of theAsom Gana Parishad (AGP). In 2001, he was elected as the MLA fromMoran constituency ofAssam. In 2004, he became a Lok Sabha member representing theDibrugarh constituency.[12] He lost Lok Sabha election from Dibrugarh in 2009. He joinedBharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 2011.[12]
He was appointed president of BJP's Assam Unit in 2012 and is also a member of the party's National Executive. In the 2014 general election for Lok Sabha he was appointed to head Assam State's Lok Sabha Elections by BJP, and in the same year he was also elected asMember of Parliament, 16th Lok Sabha, fromLakhimpur Constituency.[12] He was then appointed as Union Minister of State-Independent Charge, of the Government of India under the Modi Government at the center.
_to_Shri_Sarbananda_Sonowal%2c_at_a_Swearing-in_Ceremony%2c_at_Rashtrapati_Bhavan%2c_in_New_Delhi_on_May_26%2c_2014.jpg)
He was selected as the CM candidate of BJP for the2016 Assam Assembly Election. On 19 May 2016, Sarbananda Sonowal won the Assembly Election fromMajuli Constituency, and he became Chief Minister of Assam, the first CM of the state fromBharatiya Janata Party. In 2021 he was re-elected to Assam Vidhan Sabha from Majuli. He resigned as Chief Minister and proposed Himanta Biswa Sarma's name as his successor. He becameMinister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways andMinister of AYUSH inSecond Modi ministry when cabinet overhaul happened.[13]
Sarbananda Sonowal resigned from all executive posts within AGP and left the party, due to dissatisfaction with and amongst the senior leadership of the party who were trying to forge an alliance with a party that was against the scrapping of the controversial IMDT Act.[14] On 8 February 2011, Sonowal joinedBJP in the presence of the then BJP National PresidentNitin Gadkari and senior leaders likeVarun Gandhi,Vijay Goel,Bijoya Chakravarty and state BJP presidentRanjit Dutta. He was immediately appointed as a member of the BJP National Executive and later on the State Spokesperson of the BJP unit, prior to his current assignment to head the state as the new president. On 28 January 2016, BJP Parliamentary Board announced Sarbananda Sonowal as BJP Chief Ministerial candidate of Assam.[15]
He is not married.[16]
The annualGuwahati International Film Festival was started during his tenure. It is organised by the State Government-ownedJyoti Chitraban (Film Studio) Society in association with theDr. Bhupen Hazarika Regional Government Film and Television Institute. The first edition was held in October 2018, the second in October-November 2019. The 3rd edition has been postponed owing to the presentCOVID-19 pandemic to early 2021.
Faced with the problem of massive migration fromBangladesh intoAssam, the government tried to put up legislation in place to detect and deport foreign nationals. Eventually, theIllegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunal) Act, 1983 (IMDT Act) came into being following theAssam Accord signed between theGovernment of India and theAll Assam Students Union (AASU) to end the decade-long anti-foreigner agitation.
TheIMDT Act is an instrument passed byIndian Parliament to detect illegal immigrants (from Bangladesh) and expel them from Assam. While the IMDT Act operates only in Assam, theForeigners Act (1946) applies to the rest of the country. It is applicable to those Bangladeshi nationals who settled in Assam on or after 25 March 1971. Under the Act, the onus of proving the citizenship of a suspected illegal alien rests on the complainant, often the police. On the other hand, according to the provisions of the Foreigners Act, the onus lies with the person suspected to be an alien.
Sonowal took the issue of Bangladeshi infiltration to theSupreme Court. By its judgement dated 12 July 2005, the court struck down theIllegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunal) Act, 1983, as unconstitutional and termed Bangladeshi infiltration an "external aggression" and directed that "the Bangladesh nationals who have illegally crossed the border and have trespassed into Assam or are living in other parts of the country have no legal right of any kind to remain in India and they are liable to be deported."[20]
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