Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on Saturday said the Bharatiya Janata Party’s historic victory in West Bengal reflects growing public acceptance of the party’s ideology in the state and will pave the way for future development.
Speaking before leaving for Kolkata to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Suvendu Adhikari as West Bengal Chief Minister, Gadkari described the BJP’s electoral performance as a “spectacular victory”.
The BJP secured 207 seats in the 294-member West Bengal Assembly, ending the Trinamool Congress’ 15-year rule in the state and marking the party’s biggest political breakthrough in eastern India. Suvendu Adhikari, who defeated TMC chief Mamata Banerjee in the Bhabanipur Assembly constituency, was sworn in as the first BJP Chief Minister of West Bengal earlier in the day.
Gadkari said the victory was also a tribute to Bharatiya Jana Sangh founder Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee. Mookerjee established the Bharatiya Jana Sangh under very adverse conditions, and today our ideology has gained recognition in Bengal,” the Union minister said.
He added that the political change brought by the people of West Bengal would prove beneficial for the state’s development in the coming years.
Before the Trinamool Congress came to power in 2011, West Bengal was ruled by the Left Front led by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) for 34 consecutive years. The BJP’s victory in the 2026 Assembly elections is being viewed as a major political shift in a state that had long resisted saffron politics.
