Bengal: Cultural symbolism marks milestone moment in history

NEW DELHI: PM Modi touching the feet of a nonagenarian BJP member and then kneeling down in gratitude to the surging crowd at Brigade Ground, an image of Goddess Durga as the backdrop on the dais, and CM Suvendu Adhikari dressed in a gerua (saffron) kurta — the oath-taking of BJP’s first govt in West Bengal was marked by a medley of symbolism.

If the Bengal assembly polls wrote history, BJP went to great lengths to acknowledge the ingredients which went into the making of this history as its maiden govt was sworn in. The emotional weight of the moment showed. After taking oath, Suvendu bowed to Modi, who has a dislike to people touching his feet, and lingered in the bent pose for a while as the PM clasped his folded hands with one hand and smilingly patted his back with another. He then held him tightly as the crowd roared.

Suvendu reserved a similar gesture, though for a briefer while amid the row of dignitaries, for home minister Amit Shah, the lynchpin of BJP’s winning strategy. Since he quit TMC to join BJP in Shah’s presence in 2020, the home minister backed him for leading BJP’s ground resistance against the Mamata Banerjee govt despite the occasional grumblings from the organisation’s old guard. A faith that paid off.

But the milestone event was also an occasion to acknowledge the long toil of veterans. Dilip Ghosh, a former RSS pracharak and ex-state BJP chief who at times felt hard done by as a new crop of netas emerged, was the first minister to take oath after Suvendu, a nod to his decades-long dedication to the saffron cause. Modi also met family members of a few of the BJP members who were killed in alleged political violence over the decades.

BJP’s choice of five ministers attested to the party’s diverse social and regional support in the polls. While Suvendu is a Brahmin, Ghosh is an OBC, Ashok Kirtania, Kshudiram Tudu and Nishit Pramanik come from Matua, tribal and Rajbonshi communities. The lone woman member, Agnimitra Paul, is a Kayastha.

With BJP having no Muslim MLA and the state having no legislative council, any Muslim representation in govt appears remote in what could be the first instance of the community finding no berth in a Bengal govt. Assailed by TMC as outsiders indifferent to the Bengali ethos, BJP made it a point to organise the event on Tagore’s birth anniversary and a picture of the Bengali polymath adorned the dais.