‘You may like him or not, but you just can't ignore the crisis manager of Northeast’

GUWAHATI: “You may like him or not, but you just cannot ignore him.” He is Himanta Biswa Sarma, the “crisis manager of the Northeast who makes or breaks” governments.

These were rather compliments showered on Assam finance, health, education and PWD minister Himanta Biswa Sarma by none other than the “principal” of the schools he had been attending over the past five years, i.e.; Assam assembly speaker Hitendra Nath Goswami, and Meghalaya chief minister Conrad K Sangma after releasing Sarma’s book Eta Xopunor Pom Khedi (Chasing a Dream) here this evening.

The fourth book to be penned by Sarma is a compilation of his speeches in the assembly as well as other public meetings.

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“I have come to release this book not as a chief minister, but a family member of Sarma who I have always revered as an elder brother. In fact, he is now my political mentor after my father PA Sangma who passed away in 2016. I follow Sarma very keenly in my political endeavours.

“Although, I cannot read Assamese and will take some time to go through a translated version of it, I believe it will be interesting reading this book because all his speeches are interesting,” said Sangma.

“Being the principal of the school he attended over the past five years, I have heard most of his speeches and I would rate him the best student,” Goswami said.

Assam BJP president Ranjeet Kumar Dass said he was always impressed by Sarma’s way of handling things even when he used to be with another party.

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Sangma said there was no alternative to Sarma to lean on whenever any crisis arises in the region, and for that matter, sometimes in the country. “It may be a major crisis for all others. But, when Sarma lands up in the situation, it is always resolved quite easily,” the National People’s Party chief said.

Sarma said Eta Xopunor Pom Khedi was a compilation of such speeches which would imbibe the sense of true nationalism among the new and future breeds of politicians.