Kolkata: Suvendu Adhikari Saturday took oath as West Bengal’s first BJP Chief Minister, capping the historic saffron sweep in the state as the iconic Brigade Parade Grounds here hosted the swearing-in of the maiden BJP government since Independence.
With Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, the BJP’s central leadership and Chief Ministers of NDA-ruled states seated on the capacious rostrum, Governor RN Ravi administered the oath of office and secrecy to Adhikari amid chants of “Jai Shri Ram”, drumbeats and a sea of fluttering saffron flags.
As Modi walked onto the stage, he knelt down facing the crowd and touched his forehead to the dais with folded hands in a mark of reverence to the people’s mandate, drawing loud cheers from thousands of BJP supporters packed into the historic venue.
Adhikari, who won from both Bhabanipur and Nandigram constituencies and emerged as the face of the BJP’s aggressive campaign, took the oath first.
He was followed by senior BJP leader and its former state unit president Dilip Ghosh, who was inducted into the cabinet as a minister.
BJP legislators Agnimitra Paul, Ashok Kirtania, Kshudiram Tudu and Nisith Pramanik were also administered the oath as ministers.
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The six-member ministry reflected the BJP’s attempt at social and regional balancing, with representation from Brahmin, OBC, tribal, Matua and Rajbanshi communities.
Adhikari is a Brahmin, Ghosh represents the OBC community, Agnimitra Paul is a Kayastha, Kirtania is a prominent Matua face, Tudu represents the tribal belt of Junglemahal, while Pramanik is seen as an influential Rajbanshi leader from north Bengal.
Two ministers in the BJP’s first cabinet are from north Bengal and three from the south, underlining the party’s attempts at consolidating its support across regions.
Notably, absent from the first list of ministers was any representative from Kolkata, a city that has historically produced some of Bengal’s tallest political figures and Chief Ministers.
Sources said the remaining ministers of the BJP government are likely to be sworn in at the Raj Bhavan on Monday. The first meeting of the new cabinet may also be held on the same day. The portfolios of the ministers have not yet been announced.
The Brigade Parade Grounds, once regarded as the ideological fortress of the Left and later appropriated by the TMC as a showpiece of political strength, turned into the stage for the saffron party’s biggest breakthrough in Bengal that has been projected by the BJP as the dawn of a “Sonar Bangla” under a “double-engine government”.
Thousands of BJP workers, many draped in saffron scarves and carrying flags bearing the lotus symbol, began assembling at the venue from early morning as giant LED screens played campaign speeches of Modi and Adhikari.
Chants of “Bharat Mata Ki Jai” echoed across the Maidan area as the prime minister arrived.
The BJP secured 207 seats in the 294-member assembly in the recently concluded elections, ending the Trinamool Congress’ 15-year rule and scripting its most significant electoral breakthrough in eastern India.
The party’s rise in Bengal — long considered one of the toughest frontiers for the saffron camp because of the state’s entrenched Left-liberal political culture — gathered momentum over the past few years through aggressive grassroots expansion, sharp political polarisation, organisational consolidation and high-profile defections from rival parties.
The first batch of ministers reflected the BJP’s attempt to reward key social and electoral constituencies that contributed to its victory.
Ghosh returned to the assembly from Kharagpur Sadar, a seat he had first won in 2016. He later entered Parliament in 2019 before losing the 2024 general elections for the Bardhaman-Durgapur seat after a constituency shift.
Fashion designer-turned-politician Agnimitra Paul joined the BJP after the 2019 Lok Sabha polls and quickly rose within the ranks to become the president of the party’s women’s wing in Bengal. She retained the Asansol-Dakshin seat that she first won in 2021.
Ashok Kirtania retained Bangaon Uttar, strengthening the BJP’s hold over the politically crucial Matua belt bordering Bangladesh.
Kshudiram Tudu, a school teacher by profession, has emerged as a tribal face from the Junglemahal region, winning Ranibandh after earlier electoral defeats.
Nisith Pramanik, who had entered Parliament from Cooch Behar in 2019 and later became a Union minister of state in the home ministry, returned to state politics by winning the Mathabhanga assembly seat.
For the BJP, Saturday’s swearing-in was more than a transfer of power; it marked the culmination of a years-long political project to breach Bengal’s last major ideological fortress and replace decades of regional and Left dominance with saffron rule from the heart of Brigade itself.
