Prime Minister Narendra Modi graced Kolkata with a poignant tribute to Makhanlal Sarkar, one of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) most senior grassroots workers in West Bengal on Saturday. At 98 years old, Sarkar stands as a living link to post-Independence nationalist movements. He was arrested in Kashmir in 1952 while accompanying party founder Syama Prasad Mukherjee during the historic movement to hoist the Indian tricolour there- a defining moment in the party’s early struggle for national integration.

“He remains one of the early grassroots figures associated with the nationalist movement in post-Independence India,” underscored the Prime Minister as he felicitated Sarkar and received his blessings, symbolizing the BJP’s deep roots from its inception to today’s triumph in Bengal.

Suvendu Adhikari took oath as first BJP CM of West Bengal

BJP legislature party leader Suvendu Adhikari took oath as the chief minister of West Bengal on Saturday, heading the first BJP government in the state. He was administer the oath of office and secrecy by Governor RN Ravi at a grand ceremony held at the Brigade Parade Grounds here in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union ministers, chief ministers of NDA-ruled states and senior BJP leaders.

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Tagore tribute at Brigade Ground precedes Suvendu Adhikari’s oath

Ahead of the swearing-in, PM Modi, alongside Adhikari, paid homage to Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore on his 165th birth anniversary at Kolkata’s iconic Brigade Parade Ground. The Prime Minister arrived at the venue waving to cheering crowds, marking a momentous occasion where cultural reverence converged with historic political change. The ceremony honours Tagore, Bengal’s cultural icon, just hours before the BJP comes to power after 15 years of Trinamool Congress rule.

BJP’s Bengal victory and Adhikari’s unanimous selection

Suvendu Adhikari, elected unanimously as the BJP Legislative Party leader in West Bengal, becomes the face of the party’s landslide victory in the 2026 Assembly elections, where BJP secured 207 seats in the 234-member Assembly, crushing TMC’s 80 seats. Union Minister Sukanta Majumdar exuded optimism: “I am very happy. Under the leadership of Suvendu da, we will turn Bengal into ‘Sonar Bangla’.

This achievement is the result of everyone’s contribution.” BJP leader Agnimitra Paul hailed Adhikari as “very apt,” noting his tireless five-year Battle inside and outside the Assembly: “We are extremely happy that Suvendu Adhikari has been unanimously elected by 207 BJP MLAs. He is the most suitable choice… All 207 MLAs have to work round the clock in the next five years to deliver what West Bengal did not receive in the last 50 years”.

The BJP’s 207-seat mandate shatters the TMC’s 15-year dominance, positioning West Bengal on the cusp of transformative governance under Adhikari’s leadership. From Sarkar’s 1952 Kashmir arrest to Adhikari’s 2026 inaugural oath, this journey encapsulates the BJP’s long march to power, intertwining legacy, culture and people’s mandate in a landmark moment for Bengal’s political landscape.