Guwahati, May 11: By the time Himanta Biswa Sarma takes oath for a second consecutive term at 11:40 am on May 12 in Khanapara, Guwahati may already look and feel like a city preparing for something much larger than a routine swearing-in ceremony.

Road dividers are being repainted, decorative lighting has appeared across key stretches, and portions of Khanapara and major VIP routes have undergone rapid cleaning and beautification. Security drills have intensified, while traffic restrictions are quietly expanding ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s arrival.

What could have remained a constitutional formality is increasingly evolving into a carefully choreographed national political event.

The symbolism has been amplified by Sarma’s own messaging around the BJP-led NDA’s next phase in Assam. Soon after the alliance’s victory, Sarma declared that “2021–2026 was just the trailer” and that “2026–2031 will unveil the full picture” — remarks widely interpreted as signalling a shift from political consolidation to aggressive execution and expansion in the BJP’s third consecutive term in Assam.

The scale of the ceremony reflects that ambition.

BJP leaders claim that over one lakh people are expected at the oath-taking event at the Veterinary College Playground in Khanapara. Besides Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP national president J. P. Nadda, chief ministers and deputy chief ministers from several NDA-ruled states, senior Union ministers and alliance leaders are expected to attend.

Party and official sources also indicate that representatives from major industry groups and leading business figures have been invited, turning the event into more than just a political ceremony. Thousands of BJP workers, booth-level organisers and elected representatives from across Assam are also expected to participate, giving the gathering the scale of a mass political mobilisation.

In Assam’s political history, chief ministerial oath ceremonies have traditionally been administrative transitions with limited public spectacle. Himanta 2.0, however, is being projected differently — less as a state-level event and more as a public demonstration of political dominance in the Northeast.

The BJP’s third straight victory in Assam has given the party something larger than another electoral win. It has reinforced Assam’s role as the BJP’s political anchor in the Northeast at a time when the region has become strategically and electorally central to the party’s long-term national plans.

Unlike 2021, this victory comes after the BJP and its allies crossed the 100-seat mark and after Sarma emerged as the single most dominant political figure in Assam. Within BJP circles, the oath ceremony is also being viewed as a public display of organisational strength following a one-sided electoral verdict.

That shift is visible in the preparations themselves. Senior bureaucrats and police officials have already held multiple high-level review meetings on PM movement protocols, venue preparedness and layered security arrangements. Multiple agencies are now involved because the guest list extends far beyond Assam politics.

Social media videos circulating over the past two days show roads being rapidly repainted, medians cleaned and public spaces upgraded ahead of the ceremony. BJP supporters online are increasingly projecting the event not merely as a swearing-in but as a “historic mandate celebration”.

There is another political layer to the spectacle. Assam today occupies a very different place in national BJP politics than it did a decade ago. The state is no longer viewed merely as a frontier electoral battleground. It has increasingly become the BJP’s Northeast command centre — politically, administratively and symbolically — and the scale of the ceremony appears designed to reflect that transition.

Public reactions, however, have been mixed. While BJP supporters describe the event as a moment of regional pride and political stability, many Guwahati residents are already discussing traffic diversions, security lockdowns and movement restrictions linked to the Prime Minister’s visit.

For the BJP, however, the optics matter as much as the oath itself.

The party appears keen to project Assam not simply as another state government returning to power, but as one of the strongest pillars of the NDA in eastern and northeastern India. In many ways, the roads being repainted across Guwahati have themselves become part of that political message.

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