New Delhi: Sarbananda Sonowal was born on 31 October 1962 in Dinjan, Dibrugarh, Assam. He completed his LLB and Journalism degree from Dibrugarh University and at Gauhati University.
Considered to be one the most popular leaders in Assam, BJP’s Sarbananda Sonowal began his career since his days as a student leader.
He joined the All Assam Students Union, and was its president between 1992 and 1999. Sonowal joined the Asom Gana Parishad, the political avatar of the AASU, in 2001 and was elected MLA in the same year.
He entered the Lok Sabha for the first time in 2004 after defeating former Union Minister Paban Singh Ghatowar in Dibrugarh. After having differences with the AGP leadership he joined the BJP in 2011.
In 2012, he was appointed president of the Assam unit of the BJP.
In 2014 Lok Sabha polls, Sonowal helped BJP to bag 7 seats out of 14 in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
Sonowal is known for his stance on illegal migrants from Bangladesh and soon after taking oath he had said that his priority is Assam's all round development besides zero tolerance for the illegal migrants and complete seal of Indo-Bangla border.
He is credited with successfully challenging the Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunals) Act, which was stuck down by the Supreme Court as unconstitutional in 2005.
Under PM Narendra Modi’s leadership, he has actively taken up the issue of spot-fixing issue in the IPL, and has said that such scandals has prompted government to push for introduction of Sports Fraud Bill in the Parliament.
Political career:
1992-1999: AASU president
2001: Joins AGP
2001: Elected MLA from Moran
2004: Elected MP from Dibrugarh
2011: Joined BJP and in 2012, he was appointed BJP Assam unit chief
2014: Elected MP from Lakhimpur. He was made MoS (Independent Charge) Ministry of Youth Affairs And Sports.
In 2016, the party declared him the chief ministerial candidate
