Sarbananda Sonowal (IPA: xɔɹbanɔndɔ xʊnʊwal; born 31 October 1962) is an Indian politician who has served as Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways since 2021.[3][4] He also has been the Member of the Rajya Sabha representing Assam since 2021[5] and also a member of the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs since 2021.[6] He previously served as the 14th Chief Minister of Assam from 2016 to 2021 and as a member of Assam Legislative Assembly for Majuli from 2016 to 2021 and for Moran from 2001 to 2004. Sonowal earlier served as the Assam state unit President of Bharatiya 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 the Asom Gana Parishad from 2001 to 2011.[8][9][10]
Early life and education
Sarbananda Sonowal was born on 31 October 1962 to an AssameseHinduSonowal family in Muluk Gaon located in the Dibrugarh district of Assam to Jibeswar Sonowal (father) and Dineswari Sonowal (mother).
Sonowal taking charge as Union Minister for Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, in New Delhi on June 11, 2024.Sonowal taking oath as Chief Minister of Assam on 24 May, 2016.
Sarbananda Sonowal was the President of Assam's oldest student body, the All Assam Students Union (AASU) from 1992 to 1999. After that, he became a member of the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP). In 2001, he was elected as the MLA from Moran constituency of Assam. In 2004, he became a Lok Sabha member representing the Dibrugarh constituency.[12] He lost Lok Sabha election from Dibrugarh in 2009. He joined Bharatiya 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 as Member of Parliament, 16th Lok Sabha, from Lakhimpur 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.
The President, Shri Pranab Mukherjee administering the oath as Minister of State (Independent Charge) to Shri Sarbananda Sonowal, at a Swearing-in Ceremony, at Rashtrapati Bhavan, in New Delhi on May 26, 2014
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 joined BJP in the presence of the then BJP National President Nitin Gadkari and senior leaders like Varun Gandhi, Vijay Goel, Bijoya Chakravarty and state BJP president Ranjit 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]
The IMDT Act is an instrument passed by Indian Parliament to detect illegal immigrants (from Bangladesh) and expel them from Assam. While the IMDT Act operates only in Assam, the Foreigners 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 the Supreme Court. By its judgement dated 12 July 2005, the court struck down the Illegal 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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