A government change in Assam in 2021 as BJP’s northeast strongman Himanta Biswa Sarma took over as chief minister, earning both bouquets and brickbats from various quarters over his style of governance, which saw the security situation as “heavy-hit”. Hands” charged.
Sarma took power after leading the BJP along with Sarbananda Sonowal in the March-April assembly elections, defeating the 10-party opposition alliance of Congress and Badruddin Ajmal’s AIUDF.
Though the BJP did not present a face for the chief minister’s post, Sarma was rewarded for his organizational skills as he helped bring the party to power for the second consecutive term besides expanding his base in the Northeast. Sonowal, who headed the state since 2016, was inducted into Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cabinet as the Minister of Shipping and AYUSH after being elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha.
As soon as Sarma realized his long-cherished goal of becoming the chief minister of the state, he gave a “free-hand” to the police, leading to regular encounters. His government also extended the olive branch to banned extremist groups such as the ULFA, while border disputes with neighboring states spoiled his first few months in office.
He propelled the state through the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, ensuring the upgradation of health infrastructure and the rapid rollout of the vaccination campaign. Sarma’s “free-hand” to law enforcers led to more than 80 police firings, resulting in the death of 32 people and injuring at least 57 others in various criminal cases.
The opposition alleged that the police under Sarma’s leadership had been “triggered happy”, but the chief minister was taken aback and said the officers had “full operational freedom to fight against criminals within the confines of the law”. He also ordered a crackdown on drug smuggling, a menace in the Northeast, which has led to the seizure of narcotics worth crores of rupees publicly burnt by the government.
Sarma’s government was also accused of targeting Muslims – ranging from cracking down on “encroachers” to the community, asking them to adopt family planning to control population, in addition to bringing in a stringent animal protection law. In September, two people were killed during an eviction drive in Darrang district, as clashes broke out between police and alleged encroachers. At least 20 more were injured. A video showing a photographer stabbing an injured protester to death went viral, sparking outrage.
On the first day in office, Sarma called the banned ULFA for talks and the outfit’s chief Paresh Barua unilaterally extended the ceasefire three times. Over 1,000 militants operating in the Bodoland Territorial Area (BTR) and three hill districts of Dima Hasao, Karbi Anglong and West Karbi Anglong surrendered with their weapons.
Sarma, the convener of the BJP-led North-East Democratic Alliance and the party’s chief troubleshooter in the region, faced his first major challenge as violence broke out along the Assam-Mizoram border, killing six police personnel and a civilian in Cachar. happened. The district continued to flare up at the inter-state border in July, even as the government formed a committee to resolve the issue. The Assam government also took steps to resolve pending border disputes with Meghalaya, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh.
The Chief Minister described the border dispute as the “biggest obstacle” for the development of the region. The state continued to fight the pandemic in 2021, with 5,118 people dying of COVID-19 so far this year, compared to 1,037 in the previous year. The total number of cases so far this year increased to 6,20,081 from 2,15,939 last year.
So far, 3,67,14,946 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been given – 2,16,88,360 first dose and 1,50,26,586 second dose. Amid the raging pandemic, the BJP secured 60 seats in the assembly polls, while its ally AGP got nine and the UPPL six.
The opposition ‘Mahajot’, which was shattered after the elections, could manage 50 seats in the 126-member assembly. Firebrand leader-activist Akhil Gogoi, who fought as an independent, also won, becoming the first politician in the state to win an election from jail. Sarma’s continued efforts to expand the ruling benches also saw Congress MLAs Rupjyoti Kurmi from Mariani and Sushant Borgohain of Thaura and Fani Talukdar of AIUDF from Bhawanipore join the BJP and win bypolls.
Congress MLA from Raha Shashi Das announced that he would support the BJP while in his party. Sarma also faced attacks from the opposition, which accused a real estate company co-founded by his wife Rinki Bhuyan Sarma and BJP Kisan Morcha leader Ranjit Bhattacharya of illegally acquiring government land.
During the year, Assam celebrated boxer Lovlina Borgohain, who became the first athlete from the state to win an Olympic medal. He won a bronze medal at the Tokyo Games.
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