Abouta biography in nine parts

Personal background

Sarbananda Sonowal was born on 31 October 1962 at Mulukgaon in the Dibrugarh district of Upper Assam. The Lok Sabha's member record gives the address more precisely as Muluk Gaon, Bindhakata, under the Chabua police station. The Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways lists his parents as the late Shri Jibeswar Sonowal and the late Smt. Dineswari Sonowal.

Dibrugarh lies on the south bank of the Brahmaputra and is one of the principal towns of the tea-growing districts of Upper Assam. It is also the constituency he represents in the present Lok Sabha.

Education

His official Lok Sabha record lists his qualifications as B.A., LL.B. and B.C.J. (Bachelor of Communication and Journalism), and states that he was educated at D.H.S.K. College under Dibrugarh University, and at G.U. Law College and Gauhati University. The Ministry's profile summarises this as LL.B. and B.C.J. from Dibrugarh University and Gauhati University.

Early public life

His public life began in student politics. The Lok Sabha record lists him as president of the All Assam Students' Union (AASU) from 1992 to 1999. Press Trust of India reporting also records him as chairman of the North East Students' Organisation (NESO), the regional body of student unions of the north-eastern states, from 1996 to 2000.

These organisations were part of the civic and political life of Assam that followed the Assam Movement of 1979–1985. The Early Life chapter sets out this period in more detail.

Political entry

He joined the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) in 2001 and was elected that year to the Assam Legislative Assembly. He left the AGP in January 2011 and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) the following month, later serving as the party's state president in Assam from 2012.

Legislative experience

He has been elected to the Assam Legislative Assembly three times: from Moran in 2001, serving until 2004, and from Majuli in 2016 and again in 2021. He resigned the Majuli seat on 28 September 2021, the day after his election to the Rajya Sabha.

Parliamentary experience

He has served in both Houses of Parliament. In the Lok Sabha he represented Dibrugarh in the 14th Lok Sabha (2004–2009), Lakhimpur in the 16th Lok Sabha (from 2014, until his move to state office in 2016), and Dibrugarh again in the 18th Lok Sabha, elected in June 2024. He was elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha from Assam on 27 September 2021, and vacated the seat after his election to the Lok Sabha in 2024.

In 2005 the Supreme Court decided Sarbananda Sonowal v. Union of India, a petition he had filed as a Member of Parliament, and struck down the Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunals) Act, 1983.

The parliamentary record

Union government responsibilities

After the 2014 general election he joined the Union Council of Ministers as Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Skill Development, Entrepreneurship, Youth Affairs and Sports. On 9 November 2014, when a separate ministry for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship was assigned to another minister, his charge became Youth Affairs and Sports (Independent Charge), which he held until May 2016.

On 7 July 2021 he was sworn in as a Cabinet Minister and allocated the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways and the Ministry of AYUSH. In the portfolio allocation of 10 June 2024 he was assigned Ports, Shipping and Waterways.

Chief Ministerial period

He was sworn in as Chief Minister of Assam on 24 May 2016 at Khanapara, Guwahati, after the Assembly election results of 19 May 2016. He held the office until 9 May 2021, when he resigned after the 2021 Assembly election; Himanta Biswa Sarma was sworn in as his successor on 10 May 2021.

Assam years, 2016–2021

Current ministerial responsibility

As Union Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways he heads the ministry responsible for India's Major Ports, merchant shipping, shipbuilding and ship repair, and inland water transport. Bodies under the ministry include the Directorate General of Shipping, the Inland Waterways Authority of India and the Major Port Authorities, and it administers the Sagarmala Programme.

The ministry's official contact page continues to list him as the Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways as of September 2026.