Assam’s son of the soil & Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi, and Assam finance minister Himanta Biswa Sarma have figured in the list of 100 most powerful Indians in 2019 prepared by the Indian Express.
While Chief Justice Gogoi has been placed in 3rd position of the list, Himanta Biswa Sarma, the convenor of the North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA), has been placed in the 56th position.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has topped the list followed by union home minister Amit Shah.
Himanta Biswa Sarma has been placed just one slot above superstar Amitabh Bachchan.
Chief Justice Gogoi, who is the son of former Assam chief minister Keshab Chandra Gogoi, was appointed as Supreme Court judge in 2012.
In January 2018, Justice Gogoi was one of the four judges of the top court who addressed an unprecedented press conference where they raised several questions.
The apex court judges including Gogoi rasied questions over allocation of cases to various benches in the Supreme Court.
It was the apex court bench, headed by Gogoi, which stood firm on giving a final shape to the updated National register of Citizens (NRC) for Assam.
Another bench headed by Gogoi also took the High Courts to task for filling up vacancies in the lower judiciary even as he himself got the government to increase SC strength from 31 to 34 judges.
A five-judge Constitution bench headed by Gogoi has put the proceedings of the controversial Ayodhya land title case on fast-track.
Himanta Biswa Sarma has emerged as one of the most powerful politicians from the Northeast as he was the man behind the rise of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to grab power in six of the seven states.
In the last Lok Sabha polls, out of the 24 seats in the seven Northeastern states, the BJP was able to win 17 seats.