BJP Takes Bengal, Suvendu Adhikari Sworn in as First Saffron Chief Minister

Kolkata: Suvendu Adhikari was sworn in on Saturday (May 9) as West Bengal’s first BJP chief minister, marking a dramatic rupture in the state’s political history and ending 15 years of Trinamool Congress rule.

Adhikari, the ninth chief minister of Bengal, took oath at the iconic Brigade Parade Grounds in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah, senior BJP leaders and chief ministers of NDA-ruled states. The BJP has won 207 seats in the 294-member assembly.

The ceremony was carefully framed around Bengali cultural symbolism. The BJP chose Brigade Parade Grounds, long associated with Left mass rallies and later major anti-Left and anti-BJP mobilisations, while the dais carried Bengali cultural motifs. The date chosen for the oath ceremony was Pochishe Boishakh, Rabindranath Tagore’s birth anniversary. Political observers read the staging as part of the BJP’s effort to counter the “outsider” charge and insert itself into Bengal’s cultural imagination.

West Bengal governor R.N. Ravi administers the oath to Adhikari. Photo: PTI/Manvender Vashist Lav.

That symbolism also carried a political edge. The oath ceremony coincided with reports that the long-running Rabindra Jayanti programme at Rabindra Sadan stood cancelled this year, even as the new chief minister drove straight to Jorasanko Thakurbari, Tagore’s birthplace,  after the ceremony to pay floral tribute to Tagore before beginning official work.

“My official work begins after paying tribute to Kaviguru,” Adhikari said, invoking both Tagore and Swami Vivekananda’s “Charaiveti, Charaiveti” call to keep moving.

Five ministers were sworn in alongside Adhikari, including Dilip Ghosh, Agnimitra Paul, Ashok Kirtania, Kshudiram Tudu and Nisith Pramanik. The initial line-up reflects a visible caste and regional calculation, with Adhikari as a Brahmin leader from Purba Medinipur, Ghosh as an OBC face with roots in western Bengal, Paul as a Kayastha leader and the lone woman minister from the Asansol coal belt, Kirtania as a Matua and Scheduled Caste representative from North 24 Parganas’ Hindu refugee area, Tudu as a tribal leader from Junglemahal, and Pramanik as a Rajbanshi leader from north Bengal.

The new ministry also brings into office several leaders with pending criminal cases disclosed in their election affidavits. According to the Association of Democratic Reforms' MyNeta programme, Adhikari, a postgraduate, declared 29 criminal cases, including charges related to promoting enmity, criminal intimidation, public mischief, theft, outraging religious feelings, sexual harassment and attempt to murder, though the affidavit records no convictions.

Ghosh declared 28 criminal cases, most linked to political mobilisation, speeches and protest activity, and has maintained that such cases are politically motivated. Paul declared 23 criminal cases, including allegations linked to unlawful assembly, rioting, criminal intimidation and protest-related offences, with no convictions recorded. Pramanik, who is listed as a Class 10 pass candidate in his affidavit, declared 16 criminal cases in the 2026 assembly election, including charges related to criminal intimidation, theft, murder, attempt to murder, grievous hurt, criminal breach of trust and cheating, with no convictions recorded.

Adhikari and Pramanik also represent the BJP’s reliance on high-profile Trinamool Congress (TMC) defectors. Adhikari, once a close Mamata Banerjee aide and TMC heavyweight, joined the BJP in December 2020, while Pramanik was earlier associated with the Trinamool before being suspended in 2018 and later joining the BJP.

However, the first ministry has no Muslim representation in a state where Muslims constitute 27.01% of the population, according to the 2011 census. It is likely to be the first time in the post-1952 elected-government era that West Bengal begins a ministry without a Muslim minister. The B.C. Roy-era 1952-57 ministry list itself included Rafiuddin Ahmed.

People gather at Brigade Parade Ground during Adhikari's swearing-in ceremony. Photo: PTI.

Adhikari’s own post-result remarks have also sharpened concerns over the new government’s majoritarian political positioning. After his Nandigram victory, he said that “the Hindu people of Nandigram” had made him win again while “the entire Muslim vote went to TMC”, and added that he would work for the Hindus of Nandigram.

He is also the second leader from Medinipur to become chief minister after Ajoy Mukherjee, who held the post three times between 1967 and 1971 during a turbulent period of coalition instability and President’s Rule.

His expected move to Mahakaran, or Writers’ Building, is equally symbolic. The colonial-era building was West Bengal’s seat of power until Banerjee shifted the state secretariat to Nabanna in 2013. Security was tightened around B.B.D. Bagh ahead of his expected first official visit.

Meanwhile, Banerjee changed her social media bio after the oath ceremony, describing herself as “Founder Chairperson All India Trinamool Congress” and “Chief Minister of West Bengal (15th, 16th and 17th Vidhan Sabha)”, replacing the earlier formulation that identified her as the incumbent chief minister.

Modi congratulated Adhikari on X and wished him a fruitful tenure, posting images including one of Goddess Durga and another of him greeting the new chief minister on stage. For the BJP, the day was projected as the beginning of a Sonar Bangla under a double-engine government. For Bengal politics, it marked the opening of a new phase – one heavy with symbolism, but already shadowed by questions over minority representation and the BJP’s attempt to redefine Bengali identity through its own political lens.

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