Himanta Biswa Sarma took oath as Chief Minister of Assam for the second time today in a ceremony in Guwahati on Tuesday. Four newly installed MLAs were sworn in as state ministers, with Sarma giving the cabinet a remarkable count and a stronger ruling coalition.
Veterinary Field in the Khanapara area hosted the oath-taking ceremony with senior political leaders, state government officials, party employees and invited dignitaries. A sworn oath of office and secrecy was taken by Governor Lakshman Prasad Acharya from the Chief Minister and newly sworn-in ministers.
There has been some excitement from BJP supporters and coalition members throughout the festivities, from southern to western sections of the state. Party employees complete the external walls of the venue with flags and posters highlighting Himanta Biswa Sarma’s role as the tenacity of Himanta Biswa Sarma’s rule as the Chief Minister of Assam.
But there are four MLAs sworn in to the cabinet who carry out crucial portfolios with regard to infrastructure, education, rural development and the welfare of the public. The government hasn’t also committed to the ultimate sharing of the portfolios, but political analysts say the shake-up is likely to galvanise governance before a difficult future in politics and development projects.
Himanta Biswa Sarma thanked the people of Assam through his speech after the ceremony for their faith and help. The Government would keep an eye on development and employment, growth of infrastructure and social welfare programs that benefit all parts of society, he said.
The premier stressed that Assam had seen rapid roads-to-hospital-to-tourism-to-investment development in the past. He vowed that the government would make the state one of the region’s top industrial and economic centres, “with renewed energy.” On the day, most of the BJP’s best-in-class representatives and partners were on-site.
They followed a high-flown wave of effusive rejoinders at their swearing-in--from political leaders around the country everywhere. According to economists’ observers, the cabinet’s extension shows a wider strategy of the BJP leadership: to keep the government firmly embedded in states with more robust regional representation and a more efficient administration of the state in government.
The new faces and their successors are seen as an effort to renew support for the governing party by its own base before next time, since it is also planned that the next batch of new leaders would also build up that bond at the top. They may also work on building confidence from the front.
Himanta Biswa Sarma is still one of the party’s most prominent figures in the Northeast and has aided in extending the party’s tentacles there. And Assam has seen a slew of infrastructure projects, major policy reforms and investment programs undertaken during his tenure in power.
Opposition parties, by contrast, pledged that they would watch over the government closely and that they would hold it accountable on matters from unemployment to inflation to public welfare. The oath ceremony has propelled Assam once again to the forefront of the national political imagination, and many believe Sarma’s new seat of office will be crucial to the BJP’s long-term programme in Northeast India.
