A sharp political alarm has been sounded from Guwahati. Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma posted on X on Friday, October 16, 2026, publicly charging that unnamed individuals are orchestrating what he called a 'regime change operation' against the Narendra Modi-led central government — and he is asking citizens to identify the faces behind it. In his post, accompanied by two videos, Sarma wrote: 'Their gameplan is clear, anti-national forces who cannot win the people's mandate are now on the streets to effectively engineer a REGIME CHANGE operation. Their only mission is to overthrow the Govt by anarchist means and grab power by hook or crook.'

The 'anarchist means' charge and what Sarma is claiming

Sarma's framing is pointed and deliberate. He argues that the groups he is flagging — whose identities he leaves to viewers to determine from the accompanying videos — have chosen the street over the ballot box precisely because they cannot win elections. The phrase 'book or crook' (likely 'hook or crook') signals an accusation of illegitimacy: these are not constitutional challengers, he is saying, but forces willing to use any method to dislodge an elected government. The post references something Sarma says he flagged 'few days back,' suggesting this is part of an ongoing warning rather than a one-off reaction. He is framing himself as having predicted this moment.

Modi's triple mandate as Sarma's central shield

The political core of Sarma's argument rests on electoral legitimacy. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has led the Bharatiya Janata Party to three consecutive Lok Sabha majorities — in 2014, 2019, and 2024 — a run unmatched in modern Indian electoral history. Sarma invokes this directly, describing Modi as having been 'blessed thrice by the people of Bharat,' and argues that any attempt to remove this government outside an election amounts to subverting the democratic will of hundreds of millions of voters. This is not a new script in Indian politics. Ruling-party leaders across multiple BJP terms have consistently recast large-scale protests or civil society campaigns as extra-constitutional moves against a legitimate mandate. What gives this iteration its edge is the explicit use of the term 'regime change' — language usually associated with geopolitical interventions — applied to domestic opposition.

Sarma's NEDA role and his reach across the North-East

Sarma is not speaking merely as a state chief minister. As convenor of the North-East Democratic Alliance (NEDA), he is the BJP's political architect for a region of eight states and carries outsize influence over the alliance's messaging. A post of this nature from him is read as coordinated political signalling, not just personal commentary. His call for citizens to 'identify these faces' from the videos adds a crowd-sourced, participatory dimension to the warning — an approach that amplifies reach but also raises questions about accountability if individuals end up incorrectly identified. India's next test of this tension between street politics and electoral mandates will play out in state assembly calendars and any formal legal or legislative response to the events Sarma is pointing to. The BJP's counter-narrative is already being built — and Sarma is its loudest architect right now.