Suvendu Adhikari is set to become the next Chief Minister of West Bengal, marking the first time the BJP will form a government in the state. On Friday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah officially announced Adhikari as the elected leader of the BJP legislature party in West Bengal.
The announcement represents a major political milestone for the BJP in Bengal, where the party has long struggled to unseat regional and Left parties. Adhikari’s elevation comes shortly after the BJP’s massive victory in the Assembly elections, where it won 207 out of the 293 seats it contested in the 294-member Assembly.
The new BJP government in Bengal will be sworn in tomorrow at Kolkata’s Brigade Parade Ground in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP president Nitin Nabin, several Union ministers, and chief ministers from BJP-ruled states.
Suvendu Adhikari had long emerged as the leading contender for the chief minister’s post, particularly after BJP leaders repeatedly highlighted during the campaign that Bengal would have a “son of the soil” leader deeply connected to the state’s language and culture.
Adhikari secured one of the election’s most significant victories by defeating outgoing Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in Bhabanipur, a seat widely considered her strongest political bastion. He also retained Nandigram, the constituency closely associated with the 2007 anti-land acquisition movement that helped establish him as one of Bengal’s most prominent political figures.
Speaking in Nandigram earlier this week, Suvendu Adhikari said he would step down from one of the two constituencies within 10 days while clarifying that the final decision would be taken by the BJP leadership.
“I will not forget my responsibility towards the people of Bhabanipur and Nandigram,” he said, as supporters repeatedly appealed to him to remain in Nandigram, which he often refers to as his political “bhadrasan” or stronghold.
Adhikari’s political rise has closely reflected Bengal’s shifting political landscape. Once considered one of Mamata Banerjee’s closest associates in the Trinamool Congress, he played a crucial role in the Nandigram movement that contributed to ending the Left Front’s 34-year rule in 2011. His move to the BJP ahead of the 2021 Assembly elections significantly reshaped Bengal politics and paved the way for the party’s eventual rise to power.
Addressing party workers after the BJP’s victory, Adhikari described the moment as the “real change” in Bengal politics.
“I was part of the 2011 poribartan, and now I am part of the real change,” he said.
He also expressed confidence about the BJP’s future in the state, stating that the party would work in a way “so that the BJP government in Bengal stays for 100 years.”