Kolkata: Senior BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari will be the first BJP chief minister of West Bengal, marking a watershed moment in the state’s political history after decades of resistance to saffron politics.
Adhikari has been unanimously elected leader of the BJP legislature party, Union Home Minister Amit Shah announced Friday after a meeting of newly elected BJP MLAs and senior leaders here, formally sealing the BJP’s emphatic capture of power in Bengal in the assembly polls.
Shortly after his election, Adhikari drove to Raj Bhavan and met Governor R N Ravi to stake a claim to form the new government. The governor invited him to take the oath as chief minister at Brigade Parade Ground May 9.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Shah, chief ministers of NDA-ruled states are expected to attend the swearing-in ceremony that the party hopes will underline Bengal’s political transition.
West Bengal is the second state to have a BJP chief minister for the first time. Last Month, Samrat Chaudhary took the oath as Bihar Chief Minister as the state got its first BJP-led government.
The elevation of 55-year-old Adhikari, once Mamata Banerjee’s closest political aide and organisational troubleshooter, represents not merely a change of government but the culmination of a dramatic political rupture that has reshaped Bengal’s political landscape over the past five years.
Addressing the legislature party meeting, Shah said, “eight proposals were received, and all of them had only one name. Adequate time was given for a second name, but no other name was proposed. Therefore, I announce Suvendu Adhikari as the chief minister of West Bengal.”
Congratulating Adhikari, Shah said he was confident the BJP leader would provide stable governance and fulfil the aspirations of Bengal’s people. “I have known Suvendu ji for a long time. He is a fighter. He understands administration, and he has fought TMC at every step. I am fully confident that together with our team, he will provide good governance in Bengal. The struggle he undertook has now yielded results. The sacrifices of over 321 workers have borne fruit today,” Shah said.
The home minister framed the BJP’s Bengal victory as an event with implications beyond state politics, linking it to issues of border security, infiltration and governance.
“This victory is not merely about the BJP’s expansion or ideology. Nor is it only about the BJP-NDA forming a government in its 21st state. The biggest importance of this victory is that it plugs one of the biggest holes in India’s national security. Now infiltration and cow smuggling will become impossible in West Bengal,” Shah asserted.
“The BJP promises the people of Bengal and the country that we will identify and remove every infiltrator from India. And let me say from this stage that those who call this polarisation are mistaken. This is not about polarisation. This is about national security,” he said.
Invoking symbolism deeply rooted in Bengal’s political and cultural history, Shah said the BJP government now stretched “from Gangotri to Gangasagar” and linked the victory to the ideological legacy of Jana Sangh founder Syama Prasad Mookerjee.
“The ideological journey that began in 1950 under the leadership of Syama Prasad Mookerjee has, in 2026, finally brought his party to power in his own birthplace. This is deeply significant,” he said.
Launching a sharp attack on the outgoing TMC regime, Shah alleged that Banerjee’s tenure had witnessed the “politicisation of administration” and “criminalisation of politics”, while violence, syndicates, corruption and “cut money” had become entrenched in the state’s political culture.
“Under Mamata ji’s 15 years of rule, administration became thoroughly politicised, and politics became criminalised. Criminals themselves became politicians. There was no possibility of good governance,” he claimed.
“Goondaism, violence, syndicates, corruption, and cut money — all these have become a curse on Bengal. Within months of our new CM taking charge, all this will end,” Shah said.
Adhikari also addressed BJP legislators and supporters in an assertive but conciliatory speech that attempted to project both confidence and administrative restraint.
“Bhoi is out, and bharosa is in,” Adhikari declared, echoing Modi’s campaign slogan and drawing loud cheers from party workers.
Making it clear that the incoming administration would function collectively, Adhikari said, “Not ‘I’, but ‘we’ – the BJP government will function on the principle of collective leadership.”
The people of Bengal have given the BJP a “historic” mandate and it will fulfil all the promises made in its poll manifesto in Bengal, he said.
“Let the Centre and the state work together to fulfil the aspirations of the people of Bengal,” Adhikari added.
Adhikari also announced commissions headed by retired judges to investigate corruption allegations and atrocities against women during the previous Trinamool Congress regime.
“A commission headed by a retired judge will investigate all corruption cases. Commissions will also probe incidents of atrocities against women and the guilty will be punished,” he said.
For the BJP, Bengal had long remained among the final major frontiers resisting the party’s expansion despite its growing dominance across large parts of India. The victory, therefore, carries ideological, organisational and emotional significance for the saffron leadership, which had invested enormous political capital in the state over the past decade.
For Adhikari, the moment marks the culmination of a turbulent political journey that traversed the Congress, the Trinamool Congress and finally the BJP, transforming him from Banerjee’s trusted lieutenant into her fiercest political challenger and eventually the face of Bengal’s first saffron government.
The son of former Union minister Sisir Adhikari, the 55-year-old leader began his political career in the Congress’s student wing Chhatra Parishad during the peak of Left dominance in Bengal politics.
The BJP won 207 in the 294-member West Bengal Assembly, delivering a big blow to TMC, which managed 80 seats only.
