Suvendu Adhikari meets Bengal Governor, stakes claim to form government

way2barak, May 10: Suvendu Adhikari will on Saturday be sworn in as Bengal’s ninth chief minister and the BJP’s first in the state.

“I bow before the world’s greatest leader, Narendra Modi…. The BJP government will work to fulfil the guarantees given by Modiji…. We will talk less and work more,” Suvendu, 57, said shortly before staking his claim to form the government before governor R.N. Ravi.

“Let us rebuild Bengal on Modiji’s ideals, let the Centre and the state work together to fulfil the people’s expectations. As Shahji said, we have been able to overcome bhoy with bhorosha.”

He added: “Not 46 per cent (the BJP’s vote share), we must bring more than 60 per cent of the people to us in the next election by working positively, implementing the resolutions, fulfilling Modiji’s dream. We must bring mothers and sisters to our side. We must create a Sonar Bangla.”

Suvendu, who will be sworn in on Rabindranath Tagore’s birth anniversary, went on to quote several lines from the poet’s Chitto Jetha Bhoyshunyo.

Even a decade ago, the idea of a BJP chief minister in Bengal would have been deemed a pipedream.

Shuvendu had defeated Mamata on his turf Nandigram in 2021 and her own backyard Bhabanipur in 2026.

When Suvendu walked out of Trinamool and joined the BJP 1,966 days ago in December 2020, the idea still seemed unlikely. The BJP’s crushing defeat in the April-May 2021 polls appeared to merely underline the point.

On Friday evening, at a buzzing Biswa Bangla Convention Centre in New Town, Shah seemed to acknowledge the crossing of a difficult barrier.

“BJP governments have been formed everywhere from Gangotri to Gangasagar. A government following the ideals of Syama Prasad Mookerjee has been formed in his birthplace,” he said, lauding Suvendu for defeating Mamata in her citadel.

“You must make every effort to fulfil the hopes that the people have placed in you. Don’t let the trust be broken…. During the BJP’s rule, neither will the administration be politicised, nor will politics be criminalised,” he added.

“This is not about the expansion of our organisation or validation of ideology, but about mending the biggest hole in our national security.”

Suvendu is the latest in a line of chief ministers that began with the Gandhian simplicity of Prafulla Chandra Ghosh and included the visionary leadership of Bidhan Chandra Roy, the record 23-year tenure of Marxist Jyoti Basu, the controversial stint of Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and the chequered 15-year legacy of Mamata.

He happens to be the first Bengal chief minister to come from the districts since Ajoy Mukherjee, also from East Midnapore, stepped down in 1971.

Suvendu can boast two giant-killing acts on his CV, having helped Mamata end the Left’s 34-year rule before turning against his mentor and toppling her, too.

For two decades, he had been one of Mamata’s primary enforcers, playing a key role on the ground during the anti-land-acquisition movement in Nandigram that became one of the principal drivers of her ascent to power.