As if to underline the cultural debt, PM Modi and CM-designate Adhikari paid tribute to Tagore on his birth anniversary before the ceremony began, a moment that threaded the day’s politics through Bengal’s most enduring pride.
History descended on Kolkata’s Brigade Parade Ground on Saturday—not quietly, not gradually, but with the crash of dhol, the swirl of Chhau dancers, and a roar that swept across central Kolkata like a tsunami. BJP legislature party leader Suvendu Adhikari took oath as the Chief Minister of West Bengal, heading the first BJP government in the state since Independence. Governor R.N. Ravi administered the oath of office and secrecy to Adhikari amid chants of “Jai Shri Ram”, drumbeats, and a sea of fluttering saffron flags. Bengal, for the first time, watched the lotus bloom.
The day was chosen with deliberate care and unmistakable symbolism. The BJP chose Saturday as the day of the oath ceremony since it coincided with the birth anniversary of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore as per the Bengali calendar. As if to underline the cultural debt, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and CM-designate Suvendu Adhikari paid tribute to Tagore on his birth anniversary before the ceremony began—a moment that threaded the day’s politics through Bengal’s most enduring pride.
The drums arrived before the politicians did. By early morning, the Brigade Parade Ground had begun to thrum with rhythm as folk artists and performers from across West Bengal gathered to mark the swearing-in. From the northern districts to the western belts, troupes poured in—bringing with them masks, movement, and memory. The unmistakable energy of Purulia’s Chhau dance cut through the air, with dancers leaping and spinning as crowds thickened, turning the political ceremony into something closer to a cultural spectacle. A folk artist who had made the long journey from Cooch Behar, in the far north of the state, summed up the feeling simply: “I am feeling great.”
The food stalls completed the carnival. Lotus-shaped sandesh and saffron rosogollas went on sale at the venue ahead of the swearing-in—the Bengali sweetmakers’ tribute to a new political season. Jhalmuri stalls, that quintessential Bengali street snack made famous by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s impromptu stop on the campaign trail in Jhargram, were set up around the ground.
The crowd itself told the story of a transformed Bengal. Thousands of BJP supporters from across Bengal and even neighbouring states such as Jharkhand, poured into Kolkata to witness the oath-taking ceremony of the first BJP government in West Bengal, turning the Brigade Parade Ground into a sea of saffron.
But it was the dais that truly reflected the scale of the BJP’s triumph and the national weight of the moment.
Governor R.N. Ravi administered the oath at a grand ceremony attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari, BJP president Nitin Nabin. Senior leaders like Dharmendra Pradhan attended the ceremony, along with Chief Ministers from all the BJP ruled states as well as the states ruled by the allies. Former Minister Smriti Irani and Mithun Chakraborty were among those who converged on the City of Joy, giving the ceremony the look of a full National Democratic Alliance conclave.
The Prime Minister entered the venue in an open-air vehicle that came down the central aisle of the venue. But he soon got down and walked almost 200 metres along with Suvendu Adhikari and BJP state president Samik Bhattacharya as thousands of rapturous supporters chanted his name.
Yet amid the galaxy of the powerful, the most quietly arresting moment of the day belonged to a 98-year-old man from Siliguri in north Bengal. Prime Minister Modi was visibly emotional as he bent down and touched the feet of Makhanlal Sarkar, one of the BJP’s senior-most workers in West Bengal and a close aide of Jan Sangh founder Syama Prasad Mookerjee. Sarkar had been arrested in Kashmir while accompanying Mookerjee during the movement to hoist the Indian Tricolour there in 1953—the very agitation during which Mookerjee died in mysterious circumstances in a Kashmir jail.
Along with Adhikari who, in a first, was dressed in a saffron kurta and white dhoti, five other BJP MLAs were sworn in as Ministers, including former state BJP chief Dilip Ghosh. The other MLAs who took oath were Agnimitra Paul, Ashok Kirtania, Nisith Pramanik, and Kshudiram Tudu. The choices consciously represented every class that had supported the BJP in its 207-seat saffron wash: women, tribals, north Bengal and the Matua community.
After the oath ceremony, Union Minister Sukanta Majumdar, striking a note of confidence, said: “Under the leadership of SuvenduDa, we will turn Bengal into ‘Sonar Bangla’. This achievement is the result of everyone’s contribution.”
BJP MLA Agnimitra Paul described Adhikari as the party’s most fitting choice after years of sustained political contest. “All 207 MLAs have to work round the clock,” she said. “In the next five years, we must deliver what West Bengal did not receive in the last 50 years.”
After the swearing-in ceremony, the newly anointed Chief Minister visited Jorasanko, the birthplace of Rabindranath Tagore, the house of Syama Prasad Mookerjee at Bhabanipur, the headquarters of Bharat Sevasram Sangha and the famous Kalighat Shaktipeeth temple.
TRINAMOOL BOYCOTTS
Former Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who refused to resign after losing to the BJP and also did not attend the swearing-in ceremony, urged all opposition parties in Bengal to come together to form a “joint platform” to fight the BJP.
Mamata Banerjee also called upon the students’ unions of various affiliations opposed to the BJP and the NGOs to unite against the saffron camp. “I call upon all Opposition parties, including the Leftists and the ultra-Left, to come together to form a joint platform against the BJP,” Banerjee said.
In a post on X, Trinamool number two Abhishek Banerjee wrote: “We have fought an extremely difficult election where nearly 30 lakh genuine voters were allegedly disenfranchised from the electoral rolls. Throughout this entire process, we witnessed what we believe was deeply partisan conduct by several government agencies as well as the Election Commission of India. The Trinamool Congress will continue to stand firmly with the people of West Bengal and with every Trinamool worker who fought tooth and nail against what we believe was a compromised electoral machinery. We will continue to be a strong, vocal and uncompromising opposition both in Delhi and West Bengal.”
