West Bengal
BJP Government to Take Oath at Public Gathering
Collected Photo
The oath-taking ceremony of West Bengal’s first BJP government will take place at the historic Brigade Parade Ground in Kolkata. Senior officials of the Kolkata Police inspected the venue on Wednesday, conducting on-site planning for stage placement and seating arrangements for attendees.
BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar announced that the oath-taking ceremony of the new government will be held on ‘Panchami of Baishakh’. He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah will attend the event at the Brigade stage. Police conducted the inspection ahead of the program.
Previous governments led by Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and Mamata Banerjee took their oaths at Raj Bhavan. However, the BJP has decided that its first chief minister will take the oath at the Brigade ground in front of a public gathering. Chief ministers from BJP-ruled states are also expected to attend the ceremony, including Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, and Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, according to party sources.
Alongside the Indian prime minister and his home minister, senior Union Cabinet ministers, including Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, are also expected to be present.
Sources said that if the oath-taking is held at Brigade, around one million people could attend the event. The BJP reportedly wants the new government to take oath in front of the public so that legislators and ministers can better understand public expectations. If everything proceeds as planned, Suvendu Adhikari may take oath as the new Chief Minister of West Bengal. Leaders including Dilip Ghosh, Swapan Dasgupta, Jagannath Chattopadhyay, Agnimitra Paul, and Sajal Ghosh are also expected to be sworn in as ministers. The Chief Minister will later allocate portfolios.
Kolkata Police has already sought permission from the Army, which controls the Brigade Parade Ground, for the event. A helipad is also being arranged at a distance from the main stage so that central ministers can land directly from Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Airport in Dum Dum. Preparations are underway at the Brigade for the high-profile swearing-in ceremony.