West Bengal CM Adhikari presents cultural artefacts to Andhra IT Minister Nara Lokesh
Kolkata, June 19
West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari presented Andhra Pradesh Minister for Information Technology and TDP National General Secretary, Nara Lokesh, with two significant cultural artefacts, including the Sacred Shad-bhuja-murti Patachitra and the Historic Sholapith Boat, during a high-profile meeting in Kolkata.
In an X post, Adhikari on Thursday described the meeting as a celebration of a "special bond" and shared that the dialogue centred on leveraging these shared values to foster a "futuristic partnership of economic dominance and mutual respect."
To mark the occasion, Adhikari "To honour this special bond, I gifted him two timeless masterpieces of Bengal's heritage. The Sacred Shad-bhuja-murti Patachitra: Handcrafted by internationally acclaimed folk artist Swarna Lata Chitrakar, this rare scroll depicts Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's six-armed manifestation. The Historic Sholapith Boat: A stunning, eco-friendly masterpiece handcrafted by local artisans from a native aquatic plant. It symbolises the 2,000-year-old ancient maritime trade route that historically connected Tamluk in West Bengal to Masulipatnam in Andhra Pradesh," he said.
"Our deep cultural ties inspire us to build a futuristic partnership of economic dominance and mutual respect," he added.
Earlier on Wednesday, Adhikari attended the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Rastriya Raksha University (RRU) and West Bengal Police at Nabanna, aimed at strengthening capacity building and specialised training in policing and internal security.
Speaking on the occasion, Adhikari said the proposal for collaboration was originally received from RRU in November 2025 but had remained pending.
"The proposal was originally received from RRU in November 2025. During the previous government's tenure, no final decision was taken, and it remained pending. The present government has taken up the matter on priority and granted approval for the MoU between West Bengal Police and Rastriya Raksha University," he said.
The Chief Minister said the partnership would focus on specialised areas including cyber crime investigation and digital forensics, dark web intelligence and tracking, AI-enabled policing and open-source intelligence (OSINT), forensic science, counterterrorism and internal security, border intelligence and coastal security, crime trend analysis in eastern India, anti-human trafficking and organised crime, drone policing, AI-based surveillance, police leadership training, and canine training and dog breeding excellence centres.
— ANI
Reader Comments
Interesting to see state-level diplomacy in India. The Sholapith boat is especially symbolic - those ancient maritime routes connecting Bengal to Andhra along the Bay of Bengal are often forgotten. Hope this leads to real economic collaboration, not just photo ops.
The MoU with RRU for police training is what really caught my eye! Cyber crime, dark web intelligence, AI policing - these are critical needs. But why was the proposal pending since November 2025? Previous govt should have acted faster. Better late than never, I suppose.
Two different stories here - the cultural exchange is nice and all, but the police training MoU is the real news. Drone policing, canine training, AI surveillance... West Bengal clearly wants to modernise its force. Hope transparency is maintained in implementation.
As someone from Andhra now living in Kolkata, this warms my heart! The Sholapith boat connecting Tamluk to Masulipatnam is brilliant - both coastal towns with rich history. Nara Lokesh seems to be building good inter-state relations. More of this please! 🙏
Finally some positive news from West Bengal! The cultural artefacts exchange shows Adhikari's respect for heritage, and the police training MoU addresses real concerns. But let's see if the "economic dominance" talk translates to actual job creation for youth in both states.
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