Sarbananda Sonowal

Sarbananda Sonowal, originally hails from Dibrugarh, Assam, is an Indian politician associated with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He has been serving as the Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways and the Cabinet Minister of AYUSH in the Government of India, since July 2021. Sonowal is also the member of the Rajya Sabha representing Assam since October 2021 and a member of the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs since July 2021. He has also served as the 14th Chief Minister of Assam from May 2016 to May 2021. Prior to this, he was a member of the Assam Legislative Assembly from the Majuli constituency from May 2016 to September 2021 and from Moran constituency from 2001 to 2004. Sonowal also held the position of President of the BJP Assam state unit from 2012 to 2014 and 2015 to 2016 again.

In December 2019, BOOM came across a false claim being made on social media that Sarbananda Sonowal escaped his house following the CAA protests.

We found that the image was a screen grab of a bulletin about Sonowal's inspection of a state water project that was broadcast in Prag News, an Assamese news channel. We found the original video from Prag News, that documented Sonowal climbing down the makeshift staircase, with minimal help from his aides. The bulletin, titled as "Assam has never seen such a CM - Siddhartha Bhattacharya", was uploaded to YouTube on May 1, 2019.

It was being widely circulated on various social media platforms with the intention to mislead the mass.