Man On A Mission

With a sharp political mind and a deep understanding of insurgency movements, Himanta Biswa Sarma has emerged as the key architect of the BJP's vision for the northeast

- NAMRATA BIJI AHUJA

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma prides himself as a son of the soil. In his office at the secretariat in Guwahati are the portraits of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and of Gopinath Bordoloi, the first chief minister of Assam who won the Bharat Ratna for his service to the nation and to the people of the state. It serves as a constant reminder of the two tasks clearly cut out for Sarma. To follow in Bordoloi’s footsteps as an Assamese, a statesman, a humanitarian and as a follower of Mahatma Gandhi, and also to fulfill Modi’s dream of ‘Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat’.

“As I am from Assam and at the receiving end of a demographic change, I talk about religious identities like Hindu or Muslim,” said Sarma. “But when I go to Prime Minister Modi, I realise that for him, Bharat matters.’’

Sarma’s journey, from the students’ movement in Assam to becoming the tallest political leader of the state, mirrors the many struggles of the Assamese people. Groomed by his father, the late Kailash Nath Sarma, a schoolteacher, Sarma was in class five when he realised that he was destined for bigger things. “I used to think why is it that we don’t get to read anywhere that Assam is one of the top-ranking states of India. Holding those dreams close to my heart and not being mature enough to bear so much anguish, I joined the students’ agitation,” Sarma wrote in his book, In Pursuit of a Dream.