Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma drank fresh cow milk directly from a plastic bottle handed to him by a Muslim dairy farmer on stage during an NDA victory rally in Nagaon’s Samaguri on Saturday.
The farmer, Md Sohab Ali, stepped onto the dais carrying milk produced at his own farm and presented it to the Chief Minister before a packed crowd. Sarma stopped his address to ask whether the bottle contained cow or buffalo milk. Ali replied that it was cow milk. Sarma immediately unscrewed the cap and took several gulps, milk visibly dripping down his chin as the audience cheered.
Sarma later took to social media to recount the moment. "Md Sohab Ali, a dairy farmer gifted me his farm's cow milk and it was Moo-shkil to not have a sip," Sarma stated, framing the gesture as an example of state support for rural producers across communities.
Politics set the stage for the public display. Sarma visited Rupahihat to fulfill a campaign promise made ahead of the high-stakes Nagaon Lok Sabha by-election, where he had pledged to celebrate personally with locals if NDA candidate Devashish Sharma secured the seat. The ruling coalition pulled off a major win in the constituency, which holds a substantial Muslim electorate and had long resisted the party's reach.
Beyond the political celebration, Sarma anchored his speech around rural commerce. He announced that the state government is pushing to lift Assam’s total milk output to 10 lakh litres per day. The administration plans to roll out logistical backing and commercial incentives to make smallholder dairy farming profitable across all districts in the coming fiscal cycle.