Sarbananda Sonowal

While the IMDT Act operates only in Assam, the Foreigners Act (1946) applies to the rest of the country.

Sarbananda Sonowal (Assamese: সৰ্বানন্দ সোণোৱাল / IPA: xɔɹbanɔndɔ xʊnʊwal; born 31 October 1962) is an Indian politician of Bharatiya Janata Party from Assam who is serving as the current Cabinet Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways and Cabinet Minister of AYUSH, Government of India and the member of the Rajya Sabha representing Assam since 2021 and also a member of the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs since 2021.

Sarbananda Sonowal was born on 31 October 1962 to an Assamese Hindu Sonowal family in Muluk Gaon located in the Dibrugarh district of Assam to Jibeswar Sonowal (father) and Dineswari Sonowal (mother).

Sonowal did his schooling at Don Bosco High School, Dibrugarh.

He completed his B.A.(Hons) in English from Dibrugarh Hanumanbax Surajmall Kanoi College under Dibrugarh University and his LLB form Dibrugarh University and B.C.J from Gauhati University.

It is applicable to those Bangladeshi nationals who settled in Assam on or after 25 March 1971.

Under the Act, the onus of proving the citizenship of a suspected illegal alien rests on the complainant, often the police.

On the other hand, according to the provisions of the Foreigners Act, the onus lies with the person suspected to be an alien.

Sonowal took the issue of Bangladeshi infiltration to the Supreme Court.

Eventually, the Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunal) Act, 1983 (IMDT Act) came into being following the Assam Accord signed between the Government of India and the All Assam Students Union (AASU) to end the decade-long anti-foreigner agitation.

The IMDT Act is an instrument passed by Indian Parliament to detect illegal immigrants (from Bangladesh) and expel them from Assam.

Sarbananda Sonowal was the President of Assam's oldest student body, the All Assam Students Union (AASU) from 1992 to 1999.

After that, he became a member of the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP).

He was also the member of the Asom Gana Parishad from 2001 to 2011.

In 2001, he was elected as the MLA from Moran constituency of Assam.

In 2004, he became a Lok Sabha member representing the Dibrugarh constituency.

He lost Lok Sabha election from Dibrugarh in 2009.

He joined Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 2011.

On 8 February 2011, Sonowal joined BJP in the presence of the then BJP National President Nitin Gadkari and senior leaders like Varun Gandhi, Vijay Goel, Bijoya Chakravarty and state BJP president Ranjit Dutta.

He was immediately appointed as a member of the BJP National Executive and later on the State Spokesperson of the BJP unit, prior to his current assignment to head the state as the new president.

Sonowal earlier served as the Assam state unit President of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from 2012 to 2014 and again from 2015 to 2016.

He was appointed president of BJP's Assam Unit in 2012 and is also a member of the party's National Executive.

He has also served as the Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs, Government of India, from 2014 to 2016 and the Minister of State for Entrepreneurship and Skill Development from 2014 to 2014 and the member of the Lok Sabha from Lakhimpur from 2014 to 2016 and from Dibrugarh from 2004 to 2009.

In the 2014 general election for Lok Sabha he was appointed to head Assam State's Lok Sabha Elections by BJP, and in the same year he was also elected as Member of Parliament, 16th Lok Sabha, from Lakhimpur Constituency.

He was then appointed as Union Minister of State-Independent Charge, of the Government of India under the Modi Government at the center.

He is the 14th Chief Minister of Assam from 2016 to 2021 and the former of Assam Legislative Assembly from Majuli from 2016 until he resigned in 2021 and from Moran constituency from 2001 to 2004.

He was selected as the CM candidate of BJP for the 2016 Assam Assembly Election.

On 19 May 2016, Sarbananda Sonowal won the Assembly Election from Majuli Constituency, and he became Chief Minister of Assam, the first CM of the state from Bharatiya Janata Party.

In 2021 he was re-elected to Assam Vidhan Sabha from Majuli.

He resigned as Chief Minister and proposed Himanta Biswa Sarma's name as his successor.

He became Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways and Minister of AYUSH in Second Modi ministry when cabinet overhaul happened.

Sarbananda Sonowal resigned from all executive posts within AGP and left the party, due to dissatisfaction with and amongst the senior leadership of the party who were trying to forge an alliance with a party that was against the scrapping of the controversial IMDT Act.

On 28 January 2016, BJP Parliamentary Board announced Sarbananda Sonowal as BJP Chief Ministerial candidate of Assam.

He is not married.

The annual Guwahati International Film Festival was started during his tenure.

It is organised by the State Government-owned Jyoti Chitraban (Film Studio) Society in association with the Dr. Bhupen Hazarika Regional Government Film and Television Institute.

The first edition was held in Oct 2018.

The second, in Oct-Nov 2019.

The 3rd edition has been postponed owing to the present COVID-19 pandemic to early 2021.

Faced with the problem of massive migration from Bangladesh into Assam, the government tried to put up legislation in place to detect and deport foreign nationals.