NDA’s victory cements CM Himanta Biswa Sarma’s leadership, reshapes Assam’s politics

GUWAHATI: The 2026 election was the first where Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma was the face, front and centre of BJP, rather than its backroom strategist and he delivered the finest, steering his party well past the majority mark of 64 in the assembly for the first time, while handing NDA its third straight term.In both the last two elections BJP’s tally was 60, having to depend on its allies, but not this time.This victory of NDA cements Sarma’s leadership under which Assam’s politics has been reshaped. His personal appeal and aggressive campaign style resonated with urban and semi urban voters, welfare schemes include direct benefit transfers, women centric schemes, and infrastructure projects helped blunt anti-incumbency.In his victory speech, Sarma described the outcome as “historic and unprecedented,” dedicating it to the people of Assam. He refused to claim credit for himself, instead saying that the election was fought on the face of PM Narendra Modi and BJP workers. “I am also a BJP karyakarta,” he said.The Jalukbari constituency, Sarma’s political bastion, once again stood firmly behind him. While he traversed the state to campaign for NDA candidates, his wife held the fort at home, connecting with voters and reinforcing the family’s bond with the constituency. Sarma faced two debutant women candidates—Bidisha Neog of Congress and Independent Dipika Das. The result was emphatic: a margin of nearly 90,000 votes over Neog, while Das managed barely 2,000 votes. Even the 3,440 NOTA ballots could not dent his dominance.Yet Sarma’s campaign had not been without controversy. His fiery speeches about breaking the backbone of the Bangladesh-origin Muslim migrants in this new term, though branded as hate speech outside Assam, was seen by the majority of voters of the state as the true voice of indigenous anxieties.Sarma’s resolve to break the backbone of the Bangladesh-origin Muslim migrants, branded as hate speeches outside the state but is considered as the voice of the indigenous people of the state.Speaking to media at party headquarters here, Sarma announced that eviction drives from forest and government lands, mostly encroached by the Bangladesh-origin Muslim migrants, will continue. “In last government tenure we cleared 1.5 lakh bigha of illegally occupied land. This will increase this time.”He said that every seat where Hindus played the decisive role have been won by BJP barring one seat.He attributed the win to the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, and BJP president Nitin Nabin.Sarma made it clear that BJP follows its laid down procedure for selecting the chief minister. “First the incumbent chief minister will resign after which BJP will elect its legislature party leader and then NDA will elect its leader. Next governor will invite the NDA to form the government after that swearing-in ceremony. Our state party president is in contact with national leadership for the next steps,” he said.