Himanta Biswa Sarma was sworn in as the Assam Chief Minister for the second consecutive term on Tuesday, the first non-Congress Chief Minister to do so in the state. Four other MLAs were also sworn in as ministers.
This will be BJP-led NDA’s third successive government in the state. Himanta was administered the oath of office and secrecy by Governor Lakshman Prasad Acharya at a grand ceremony in in the presence of a host of BJP and NDA leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister , Defence Minister , BJP national president Nitin Nabin and the chief ministers of 22 NDA-ruled states.
Along with him, four MLAs were sworn in as ministers — Rameswar Teli and Ajanta Neog from the BJP; and Atul Bora and Charan Boro from NDA partners, Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and the Bodoland People’s Front (BPF), respectively. The Council of Ministers is expected to be expanded later this month.
Teli is a senior tea-tribe leader who has previously served as Union Minister of State for Food Processing Industries and then for Petroleum and Natural Gas in the second stint of the Modi government. Ajanta Neog is one of Sarma’s longest standing colleagues who served as Finance Minister in the outgoing government, the first woman to hold that post in Assam.
Atul Bora is the president of BJP’s long-time regional ally AGP and has been a Cabinet minister in both the previous BJP-led governments in the state. BPF leader Charan Boro had been inducted into the ministry in October last year to seal the BJP’s alliance with the BPF ahead of this election.
The Prime Minister congratulated the CM and each of the ministers after they took the oath.
After the swearing-in ceremony was over, the PM greeted the people with folded hands and also all present on the dais, before leaving the venue. Modi said that the NDA government assuming office for the third consecutive term was a ”great day for Assam” and congratulated Chief Minister on taking oath for the second time. In a post on X, the PM said that Sarma has made a mark as a “wonderful administrator and has done pioneering work for the state. My best wishes to him for the tenure ahead”.
Sarma said that it was an extremely emotional moment for him as he took oath as the CM for the second consecutive term and “with all humility I bow down to the people of Assam”.
With 102 seats (BJP 82, AGP 10, and BPF 10) in the 126-member Assam assembly, the BJP-led NDA received its biggest mandate so far since it came to power in the state for the first time in 2016. Among opposition parties, the Congress has won 19 seats, the Raijor Dal and AIUDF two each, and the Trinamool Congress one.
The BJP has returned to power in the state again with promises that include the implementation of a Uniform Civil Code in Assam, laws against “land jihad” and “love jihad”, more evictions, more “pushbacks” of declared foreigners, and a ramp-up of existing welfare schemes, including increasing the amount transferred under the government’s monthly financial assistance scheme for women from Rs 1,250 to Rs 3,000.
