Himanta Biswa Sarma is called upon by the party every time it needs to cobble up numbers or pull the rug from under the feet of tottering governments run by rival parties
Union Home Minister Amit Shah is known to rarely trust those who have migrated from other parties, especially when it comes to rolling out his meticulously planned missions. But within months of his leaving the Congress to join the BJP in 2015, Himanta Biswa Sarma had earned the confidence of both Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Sarma, the Chief Minister of Assam, is now the BJP’s go-to man, called upon by the party every time it needs to cobble up seemingly impossible numbers or pull the rug from under the feet of tottering governments run by rival parties – from the Northeast to Maharashtra.
Now, he finds himself at the centre of the latest political crisis facing a state government: the JMM-Congress-RJD coalition government in Jharkhand. After three Congress MLAs were arrested allegedly with a huge amount of cash in West Bengal’s Howrah, Congress MLA Kumar Jaimangal Singh has filed a complaint accusing Sarma of playing a major role in the BJP’s alleged attempts to topple the state government. Sarma denied the allegations, saying he is in regular touch with many Congress leaders whom he referred as “old friends”.
Talking to The Indian Express, Sarma said, “It’s a false FIR and a baseless allegation. Because there is enough evidence on record that he (Jaimangal Singh) had met in Delhi last week also. My request to the Congress party is that it should not misuse the state police like this.”
Sarma’s political adeptness has seen the BJP leadership rope him in for its ‘Operation Lotus missions’ beyond the Northeast. Sarma had played a crucial role when the BJP moved in furtively to come to power in Maharashtra by dislodging the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress coalition government, a mission that was obviously planned with extreme secrecy. Later, the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena had alleged that Sarma engineered the split in the party that led to Eknath Shinde taking 40 MLAs with him to the BJP camp.
From the time he entered the BJP, saddled with the image of being a sulking Congressman and an ex-confidant of former CM Tarun Gogoi, Sarma has has pulled off seemingly impossible poll victories, roped in key leaders into the BJP in the Northeastern states, and helped the BJP have a stake in power in six of the seven states in the region. Except for Mizoram, where the ruling MNF is part of the NDA at the Centre but not at the state, the BJP leads the ruling alliance (Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Tripura) or is a junior partner in the government (Meghalaya, Nagaland).
In the Maharashtra operation, Sarma took charge of shielding the Shiv Sena rebels led by Eknath Shinde as they were taken to Guwahati from Surat on June 22. Sources in the BJP said Sarma, who was then working to deal with an unprecedented flood situation in his state, had assured the party leadership about keeping the Sena rebels in Guwahati.
One of Sarma’s close confidants handled the situation for the Chief Minister while he himself chose to stay in the background of the operation so as to not attract attention. “The move showed the BJP leadership’s faith and confidence in him. They would not have placed this kind of trust on any other leader who joined the party merely six years ago,” said a party MP from Assam.
While in his new party, Sarma lost no time in bettering his ties with the RSS leadership, which considers Assam an important state in its ideological scheme of things. Since he took over as Chief Minister of Assam, Sarma has had a number of meetings with the top leadership of the RSS and he had even hosted sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat at his residence during one of his visits to Assam.
Calling Sarma a “man of immense political maturity”, Rajdeep Roy, BJP MP from Silchar, says his “farsightedness” and “political acumen” is what got him noticed by the leadership. “So it is very natural for Himanta Biswa Sarma to be given the responsibility at crucial moments for the party.”
Saying Sarma’s relevance is no longer confined to the Northeast, Roy predicted, “Slowly and slowly, he will be noticed by everyone in political circles across the country.” The BJP leader argued that the ideology of the RSS and BJP has always promoted “political talents and spotted such stars (as Sarma).”
Despite his increasing importance in the party, there are not many who would express their disapproval at his steady rise. “That is because he has a way of doing things. He doesn’t speak out of turn and when he does, his opinion will be what the top leadership would like to hear,” said a senior BJP leader.
Another senior office bearer pointed out that Sarma used to be the go-to person for party leaders even when he was the Number 2 in the cabinet under Sarbananda Sonowal’s chief ministership. “Things moved quickly when he was approached. There have been several instances when he would get things done in hours when similar requests through official channels would take days,” said a leader familiar with the BJP’s functioning in West Bengal.
Source:indianexpress.com