Kolkata, 9 May

Suvendu Adhikari on Saturday took oath as West Bengal’s first BJP chief minister, marking a dramatic saffron turn in the State’s political history, with the iconic Brigade Parade Grounds here hosting the swearing-in ceremony.

Governor RN Ravi administered the oath of office and secrecy to Adhikari amid the 'Jai Shri Ram' slogan, drumbeats, and a sea of fluttering saffron flags.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, senior BJP leaders and chief ministers of NDA-ruled states attended the grand function. Adhikari, who won from both Bhabanipur and Nandigram constituencies, took oath first, followed by senior BJP leader and party's former state unit chief Dilip Ghosh, who was inducted into the cabinet as a minister.

BJP legislators Agnimitra Paul, Ashok Kirtania, Kshudiram Tudu and Nisith Pramanik were subsequently administered the oath as ministers.

The six-member cabinet reflects the BJP’s attempt at social and regional balancing ahead of the challenges of governing a politically polarised state.

Ghosh won from Kharagpur Sadar, Paul from Asansol Dakshin, Kirtania from Bangaon Uttar, Tudu from Ranibandh and Pramanik from Mathabhanga in Cooch Behar district. The portfolios of the ministers are yet to be announced. The names of other MLAs, who will take the oath as ministers, will be announced later.

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, became the venue where Bengal witnessed the swearing-in of its first BJP government since Independence — an event the saffron camp projected as the dawn of a "Sonar Bangla" under a "double-engine" government.

The term “double engine” is used by BJP leaders to refer to the party being in power at the Centre as well as in a State.

Thousands of party workers, many draped in saffron scarves and carrying party flags, 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' and 'Bengal wants BJP' reverberated across the Maidan area as the Prime Minister arrived at the venue.

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.

Adhikari, who emerged as the face of the BJP’s aggressive anti-TMC campaign and was widely seen as the frontrunner for the top post, was unanimously elected leader of the BJP legislature party on Friday in the presence of Shah, formally ending the speculation over the party’s chief ministerial face.

The ceremony was attended by Union ministers, BJP MPs,industrialists, film personalities, seers and religious leaders, turning the oath-taking into a massive political spectacle that the party described as a “historic dawn” for Bengal.

The BJP’s rise in the State, once considered an improbable political frontier for the saffron party, gathered momentum over the past several years through a combination of aggressive grassroots expansion, polarising campaigns and defections from rival camps, culminating in Saturday’s symbolic transfer of power at the Brigade Parade Grounds.