BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari made history on Saturday as he took oath as the first BJP Chief Minister of West Bengal. The event was attended by key leaders — including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, as well as the CMs and deputy CMs of NDA states. Governor RN Ravi also administered the oath of office to five BJP MLAs during the grand ceremony at Brigade Parade Grounds in Kolkata.

Thousands of BJP supporters thronged the venue, waving saffron flags and raising the ‘Jay Shri Ram’ slogan as PM Modi arrived at the event in an open vehicle. The BJP secured 207 seats in the 294-member assembly in the recently concluded elections — ending the 15 years of Trinamool Congress rule and scripting its most significant breakthrough in eastern India. Adhikari was one of the principal architects of the BJP’s rise in Bengal.

Who are the five new West Bengal Cabinet 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.

  • Dilip Ghosh
    The veteran BJP leader won the recent Assembly elections from Kharagpur Sadar last month. He has played a major role in the grassroot expansion of BJP in Bengal since 2014 and previously served as its state party president. Ghosh was also a Lok Sabha MP representing the Medinipur constituency.
  • Agnimitra Paul
    Fashion designer and politician Agnimitra Paul retained the Asansol Dakshin assembly seat with a victory margin of 40,839 votes earlier this week. The 51-year-old has served as the President of the BJP Mahila Morcha in West Bengal and as party general secretary for the state.
  • Nisith Pramanik
    The former Union Minister won the Mathabhanga seat in Cooch Behar district during the recent elections. He is considered to represent the Rajbanshi community and the North Bengal political base. He is a former TMC youth leader who joined the BJP in 2018 after being expelled — starting as a booth president and working his way up to the BJP state leadership. Two years later he became the youngest member of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s council of ministers at the age of 35. Pramanik defeated his nearest TMC rival Paresh Adhikary in the 2019 general elections but suffered a setback during the 2024 general elections.
  • Khudiram Tudu
    A representative of the Santhal tribal community, Tudu contributed to the total BJP sweep in the forest-covered ‘jungal mahal’ area of central Bengal — snatching the Ranibandh assembly seat in Bankura district from TMC, vanquishing Mamata Banerjee’s nominee Tanushree Hansda. For a community which is striving in Bengal for proliferation of the Santhali language among its community members, Tudu’s choosing to take oath in his native language was also significant. 
  • Ashok Kirtania
    A BJP leader from the Matua community belt of North 24 Parganas district bordering Bangladesh, Kirtania recently retained his Bangaon Uttar seat..

BJP supporters flood Kolkata’s Brigade Parade Grounds 

Thousands of BJP supporters from across the country and abroad, including from north Bengal and neighbouring states such as Jharkhand, poured into Kolkata on Saturday to witness the oath-taking ceremony of the first BJP government in West Bengal, turning the Brigade Parade Grounds into a sea of saffron.

“It is a historic day. We have come to witness West Bengal getting independence from the clutches of the TMC,” a BJP supporter who travelled from Jharkhand told PTI while marching towards the venue with a group of party workers.

A middle-aged man clad in dhoti-pyjama added that he had arrived from Canada to witness the historic occasion in person.