Bangladesh: Cultural icon marks landmark moment in history

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi touched the feet of a nonagenarian BJP member before kneeling to express his gratitude to the thronging crowd at the dais, with an image of Goddess Durga as the backdrop and CM Suvendu Adhikari in a saffron kurta – the oath of the BJP’s first government in West Bengal replete with symbolism.If the Bengal Assembly polls write history, the BJP went out of its way to acknowledge the factors that made it when its first government was sworn in. The emotional weight of this moment is evident. After taking the oath, Suvendu bowed to Modi, who doesn’t like his feet touched, and lingered for a moment in a crouched pose as Modi held his folded hands with one hand and smiled and patted his back with the other. Then, as the crowd cheered, he hugged him tightly.Suvendu also made a similar gesture to Home Minister Amit Shah, a key figure in the BJP’s winning strategy, albeit for a shorter time in the dignitary ranks. Since he quit the TMC under Shah in 2020 and joined the BJP, the home minister has backed him in leading the BJP’s ground resistance against the Mamata Banerjee government, despite occasional complaints from the group’s old guard. Faith paid off.But this landmark event is also an opportunity to recognize veterans for their long hard work. Dilip Ghosh, a former RSS pracharak and ex-BJP president, has often felt badly hurt with the emergence of a new batch of Netans. Modi also met with the families of some of the BJP members who have been killed in alleged political violence over the past few decades. The five ministers chosen by the BJP are a testament to the party’s diverse social and regional support at the polls. Suvendu is a Brahmin, Ghosh is an OBC, Ashok Kirtania, Kshudiram Tudu and Nishit Pramanik are from Matua, tribal and Rajbonshi communities. The lone female member, Agnimitra Paul, is a Kayastha. Since the BJP has no Muslim MLAs and the state has no legislative council, representation of Muslims in the government appears remote and this may be the first instance where the community will not find a seat in the Bengal government. The BJP, criticized by the TMC as an outsider indifferent to the Bengali ethos, organized the event on Tagore’s birth anniversary and hung a photo of the Bengali polymath on the podium.