Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], May 18 : West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Monday said Bengali culture would once again be at the forefront globally, asserting that the people of the state had "unshackled" West Bengal from a regime that had allegedly suppressed its cultural identity.
In a post on social media platform X, Adhikari wrote, "The Glorious Bengali Culture admired Worldwide, thanks to the contributions of Revered personalities like Vishwa Kabi Rabindranath Tagore and other Great Sons of the Soil during the Bengal Renaissance, would again be at the forefront, because the People of West Bengal have unshackled the State from the Regime that had consciously suffocated the Bengali Culture and tried to forcefully impose foreign & regressive culture and tradition."
He was reacting to a post shared by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his five-nation tour that highlighted the Bengali culture's presence in Sweden.
In West Bengal, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) registered a significant surge, winning 206 seats in the 294-member Assembly, a major shift in a state where it had 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.
On May 8, Union Home Minister Amit Shah officially announced Adhikari as the leader of the BJP Legislative Party in West Bengal. Shortly afterwards, Adhikari met Governor RN Ravi to stake a claim to form the government.
On May 9, Suvendu Adhikari took oath as the ninth Chief Minister of West Bengal. Adhikari had contested from Nandigram and Bhabanipur, defeating outgoing Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee from Bhabanipur by a margin of over 15,000 votes, marking a major political development in the state.
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.
"Today marks the end of decades of misrule and the beginning of a 'Double Engine' era of development, peace, and prosperity. The era of 'Sonar Bangla' officially begins," he wrote on X.
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