Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday congratulated and sought blessings from 98-year-old BJP veteran Makhanlal Sarkar during the swearing-in ceremony of the new BJP government at Brigade Parade in Kolkata.
The gesture came before Suvendu Adhikari took oath as the first BJP chief minister of West Bengal, in the presence of senior BJP leaders, chiefs of other states and hundreds of party workers as well as supporters.
Who is Makhan Lal Sarkar?
Makhan Lal Sarkar is considered one of the first grassroots organizers of the BJP in West Bengal, and has remained associated with the nationalist movement since the post-independence years.
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In 1952, he was arrested in Kashmir while accompanying Syama Prasad Mukherjee during the Indian Tricolor Movement there.
After the formation of the BJP in 1980, Sarkar became the organizational coordinator of West Dinajpur, Jalpaiguri and Darjeeling districts. Within a year, he helped register nearly 10,000 members, contributing significantly to the party’s organizational expansion in North Bengal.
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From 1981 onwards, he served continuously for seven years as district president, an unusual period during a period when BJP leaders generally did not remain in the same organizational role for more than two years.
The Bharatiya Janata Party forms the first government in Bengal
The swearing-in ceremony marks a major political development in West Bengal, where the BJP has formed its first government since independence after winning 207 seats in the 2026 Assembly elections. The Trinamool Congress won 80 seats after ruling the state for 15 years.
Adhikari, who contested from Nandigram and Bhabanipur, defeated outgoing Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee from Bhabanipur by a margin of over 15,000 votes.
Union Ministers Rajnath Singh, JP Nadda and Dharmendra Pradhan, along with Manik Saha and Himanta Biswa Sarma, were present at the event.
Before the ceremony, Adhikari described the occasion as the beginning of the era of ‘Sonar Bengali’.
In a post on the
“Today marks the end of decades of misrule and the beginning of the era of ‘dual engine’ of development, peace and prosperity. The era of ‘Sonar Bangla’ officially begins. Welcome Pradhan Mantri ji,” the post added.
