As the news finally set in, and counting of the votes revealed that Sonowal has wrestled Majuli from Congress's Rajib Lochan Pegu by over 18,000 votes, the town square was abuzz with discussions.
In the sleepy riverine island of Majuli, the constituency of Sarbananda Sonowal, the results of the Assam elections have brought in an unprecedented wave of excitement. Despite fervent hope, no one from the island thought that they will elect the state chief minister to power.
As the news finally set in, and counting of the votes revealed that Sonowal has wrestled Majuli from Congress's Rajib Lochan Pegu by over 18,000 votes, the town square was abuzz with discussions. Umakanta Barua, a retired economics professor from Majuli College, speaks for the whole town when he talks of what they expect from Sonowal.
"Sonowal is not as young as they show him to be; he is patient, graceful and looks promising. The first issue that the CM must pick up is to stop erosion of Majuli, and Sonowal must deliver on his promise of getting us fund, expertise and help from the Centre. The second thing to do is to build us a bridge, so that the rest of our problems do not exist. Third, he must help us do away with the social problem of unemployment," says Barua.
There are very few in Assam politics, save for Prafulla Mahanta, who has had such a meteoric rise as Sarbananda Sonowal. Sonowal started his political career as a student leader of All Assam Students Union (AASU) and, like many others, organically went ahead to be a part of the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) in 1999, the party with which AASU is affiliated.
While in AGP, Sonowal worked to scrap the controversial Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunals) Act, 1983 and filed a petition in the Supreme Court against it. In 2005, the apex court struck it down as unconstitutional. This marked Sonowal's biggest political clincher.
He soon left AGP to join Congress, as he was disillusioned with the party, and was unhappy over the dissent he faced within the party over IMDT Act. In 2011, he moved over to the BJP, where he was inducted into the party fold in a function presided over by then BJP president Nitin Gadkari, Assam BJP veteran Bijoya Chakravarty, Varun Gandhi and Vijay Goel. He soon became a member of the BJP National Executive and was made the spokesperson of the state BJP unit. In 2012, he became the state BJP president.
As soon as word got out that the BJP is in for a big win in the state, PM Modi called him early in the day to congratulate him. Modi is likely to go to Guwahati on May 24 or 25 for Sonowal's anointment as the state's CM.
Sonowal thanked the people of Assam for the victory. "I think this is a great victory for the people of Assam, and the people have chosen their mandate. I am specially thankful for the people of Assam for their whole-hearted support," he told reporters.
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 "Sarbananda Sonowal")
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