Tejasvi Surya Hails Resurgence of Vivekananda's Principles in West Bengal

Speaking at the roundtable on 'India, That is Bharat: Growth Governance and Identity' at Stanford India Conference, Surya said, "If you put these kind of opposition to these policies, then the nature of the political conversation has gotten so perverse, that those who oppose this or ask for constitution equality are branded as communal, now this is where we are having a fundamental problem...so to reiterate, Shashiji, at philosophical level, there is absolutely nothing to oppose, because what you said has been this position of Vivekananda and BJP...it took an enormous amount of effort for the last 12 years to reestablish in the birthplace of Swami Vivekananda, his own principles and after the Bengal election results, finally we are seeing the resurgence of the same fundamental principle."

The 2026 Assembly election results marked a decisive mandate for the BJP, registering a significant surge, winning 206 seats in the 294-member Assembly, a major shift in a state where it had earlier secured 77 seats in the previous election. The Trinamool Congress (TMC), which had won 212 seats in the last Assembly polls, finished a distant second with 80 seats.

Adhikari on Saturday took oath as the ninth Chief Minister of West Bengal. The oath of office was administered by Governor RN Ravi at a grand swearing-in ceremony in Kolkata attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Ministers and senior BJP leaders.

Calling it the beginning of a new chapter for the state, Adhikari said the "Sonar Bangla" era had officially begun after the BJP's sweeping victory in the 2026 West Bengal Assembly elections.

Tejasvi Surya further criticised the Karnataka cabinet's approval of a ₹600-crore action plan for the development of minority colonies, stressing that the state is allegedly indirectly sponsoring ghettoisation or the alienation of the community.

"The political disagreements come when the state starts addressing or approaching certain sections not as individuals but starts offering special treatment based on a particular community's religion, and that is what the constitution also abhors. Now there was a recent scheme announced by the Karnataka government which wanted to fund development of particular areas, or assigned particular budget for minority colonies, now that makes us ask a fundamental question that what is this concept of minority colonies, if the country got divided based on the religion on 1947 and post that we decided there shouldn't be any discrimination based on the majority or minority, then what on earth is minority colony development fund? Isn't this the state actively promoting ghettoisation or isn't the state sponsoring alienation of a particular community based on the religion? This is what Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), or secularist or constitutionalist in a true sense, oppose," asserted Surya.

The Stanford India Policy and Economics Club (SIPEC) hosted a flagship conversation at the Stanford India Conference 2026, held at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. Centred on the theme 'India, That is Bharat: Growth, Governance & Identity,' the event featured high-profile speakers including Shashi Tharoor, Tejasvi Surya, and K. Annamalai. The session facilitates an in-depth discussion on the forces shaping India's future trajectory, spanning economic policy and governance to the evolving dynamics of identity and democracy.

- ANI