COVID, corruption charges among key challenges that Himanta Biswa Sarma faces as Assam CM

Though he has been credited with deftly handling the COVID-19 crisis in Assam as the health minister in the previous Sonowal government, a lot needs to be done to fight the second wave. Assam reported over 32,000 active cases and 1,500 deaths till date. The new CM has his task cut out to ensure these cases do not go up and the death rate plateaus.

While Sonowal was acknowledged as someone who believed in zero-corruption governance, there are a few allegations against Sarma. His name cropped up in the Saradha chit fund scam. Further, allegations of bribery were made against him by officials of Louis Berger, a consulting firm for a water supply project in Guwahati, which tarnished his image to some extent.

Sarma went hammer and tongs on this issue in the elections by highlighting AIUDF chief Badruddin Ajmal as the biggest threat to Assam. By changing the stance from Assamese versus illegal immigrants to Hindu versus Muslims, the new CM has to now ensure welfare and development for all.

Sarma has the tough task of delivering on the promises of removing illegal Bangladeshis from the voter list as his party used this as a major political plank to return to power in Assam. The two slogans that struck a chord in the hearts of the Assamese, Jai Shri Ram and Joi Aai Axom (Hail Mother Assam) also worked in his favour. Sarma now has to do a balancing act like his predecessor, who did not allow anything untoward to happen in Assam.