In West Bengal's political circles, it was widely believed that after Mamata Banerjee, Suvendu Adhikhari was perhaps the only leader with a truly significant mass base of his own.
Key Points
- Adhikari began his political career in the Congress, moving to the TMC, and was significantly shaped by the Nandigram land agitation.
- It's Suvendu's floor crossing that stood out as the Bharatiya Janata Party's single biggest political catch in Bengal.
- The Adhikari family holds significant political influence across several districts in West Bengal, with his father and brothers also joining the BJP.
In the West Bengal assembly elections of 2021, Mamata Banerjee took what many in her party saw as a spur-of-the-moment political gamble. She decided to take the fight straight to her lieutenant-turned-arch rival Suvendu Adhikari by abandoning the safety of Bhabanipur and announcing that she would contest from Nandigram -- the cradle of the land movement that once defined her rise to power.
The political messaging was potent, but the outcome bruising. Banerjee lost by a slender margin of 1,956 votes. She swept West Bengal, though.
Five years later, Suvendu scripted a political full circle. In a move that mirrored Banerjee's own high-stakes gamble, he announced his candidature from Bhabanipur -- her bastion, her political comfort zone.
And this time, he completed the political playback -- defeating Banerjee in Bhabanipur by 15,105 votes and emerging as the giant slayer in an election that handed him not just her seat but the key to the state.
Late on May 4, after the Bhabanipur result was declared, Adhikari held up his victory certificate and declared the mandate a 'victory for Hindutva.' 'All the Muslims voted for Banerjee,' he said.
In Nandigram, which Suvendu also retained, his margin of victory stood at 9,665 votes. Asked why the margin there was narrower than in Bhabanipur, he pointed to the constituency's larger Muslim population.
Rise of a Hindutva Face
Over the last five years, Suvendu, who served as leader of the Opposition, had steadily emerged as the BJP's most vocal face of Hindutva politics in West Bengal. He formally joined the party at a rally in West Medinipur on December 19, 2020, in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah -- months ahead of the assembly elections.
Yet, among the stream of Trinamool members of the assembly who crossed over to the saffron party that season, it's Suvendu's floor crossing that stood out as the Bharatiya Janata Party's single biggest political catch in Bengal.
Suvendu cut his teeth in politics in the Congress and then moved to the TMC within years of its formation. His political ascent in many ways mirrored the rise of the Trinamool Congress -- shaped in the turbulence of the Nandigram land agitation against the Indonesia-based Salim group's proposed chemical-hub project.
Many remember him as the galvanising force behind the Bhumi Uchhed Pratirodh Committee: If Banerjee was the face of the agitation, Suvendu was widely seen as its feet on the ground.
Nandigram's Impact and Family Influence
The movement reached a bloody flashpoint in 2007, when 14 people were killed in police firing during violent protests -- an episode that altered the course of West Bengal politics and propelled the TMC's march to power, ending the 34-year Left Front rule in West Bengal.
Monday's win in Nandigram marked Suvendu's third consecutive triumph from the constituency, after his victories in 2016 and 2021. Before that, he had represented the Tamluk Lok Sabha seat, of which Nandigram is an assembly segment, for two successive terms in Parliament.
The Adhikari family's influence, however, stretched beyond Nandigram -- the clout spanning Purba Medinipur, Paschim Medinipur, Purulia and Bankura.
Suvendu's father Sisir Adhikari served as minister of state for rural development in the Manmohan Singh government. Since 2009, he represented the Kanthi Lok Sabha seat for the TMC before following Suvendu to the BJP.
Suvendu's brothers, Dibyendu and Soumendu Adhikari, also crossed over from the TMC to the BJP. While Dibyendu is a BJP member in the assembly, Soumendu is a BJP member in the Lok Sabha.
It is, therefore, hardly surprising that Suvendu's influence worked decisively in the TMC's favour as long as he stayed in the party.
'In a pleasant coincidence,' Modi tweeted, 'the oath-taking ceremony of the first-ever BJP Government in West Bengal took place on Pochishe Boishakh, the Jayanti of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore.'
'At the ceremony, tributes were paid to Gurudev Tagore. His timeless words have long stirred the conscience of the nation and his vision continues to illuminate India’s development journey.' Photograph: ANI Photo
In West Bengal's political circles, it was widely believed that after Banerjee, Suvendu was perhaps the only leader in the party with a truly significant mass base of his own.
In the Banerjee government, Suvendu held key portfolios like transport, irrigation, and waterways; he also occupied influential administrative positions, including chairman of the Hooghly River Bridge Commission.
He is now set for a new innings in the BJP government -- this time running West Bengal.
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