First BJP Government in Bengal Begins Today with Oath Ceremony on Rabindra Jayanti

The West Bengal unit of the BJP has deliberately chosen Saturday as the day of the oath-ceremony, since the day coincides with the birth anniversary of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore as per the Bengali calendar.

The decision, as claimed by the BJP's state President in West Bengal and Rajya Sabha MP, Samik Bhattacharya, is a reply to the Trinamool Congress' pre-election campaign that the BJP is an out-and-out anti-Bengali force and with the saffron camp in power, Bengal and Bengali culture will be at stake.

The oath ceremony, at the Brigade Parade Ground in Central Kolkata, will be administered by Governor Ravi himself in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Chief Ministers from other BJP-ruled states, some members of the Union Cabinet and several top Central BJP leaders.

After the oath ceremony, the new Cabinet members, led by Adhikari will take charge of the administration at the old state secretariat of Writers' Buildings in central Kolkata, instead of Nabanna at Mandirtala in Kolkata-adjacent Howrah district, which became the new state secretariat during the previous Trinamool Congress-ruled and Mamata Banerjee-led state government.

Nabanna was originally designed and projected during the Left Front regime as a garments' hub. However, just two years after coming to power in 2011, Mamata Banerjee, in 2013 decided to shift the state secretariat to Nabanna, reportedly following the advice of her personal astrologer.

Accordingly, the new state secretariat started functioning from Nabanna from October 5, 2013. However, with the BJP now in power in the state, it had decided to bring back the state secretariat to historical Writers' Building where from all the Chief Ministers of West Bengal prior to Mamata Banerjee, starting from late Prafulla Chandra Ghosh to late Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, had operated from.

Adhikari, had already made it clear that he will not operate like his predecessor Mamata Banerjee by dumping all his decisions on the members of his Cabinet and instead run the show on the basis of "collective leadership".

"It will not be 'I' who will govern the state. It will be 'we' who will be governing the state. At the same time, the state will be governed through smooth Centre-state relationship and coordination," Adhikari said.

Meanwhile, Trinamool Congress had announced that while the oath ceremony of the new Cabinet will take place at Brigade Parade Ground today, the party will celebrate Rabindra Jayanti, at Mamata Banerjee's residence at Kalighat in South Kolkata.

- IANS