India, May 17 -- The walls of Nabanna, West Bengal's state secretariat on the banks of the Hooghly, have witnessed much political theatre over the years. But the seven days following Suvendu Adhikari's swearing-in carried a different texture-the purposeful, at times combative, energy of a Chief Minister signalling from day one that the rules of engagement in Bengal had irrevocably changed.

Adhikari was sworn in on May 9 at the Brigade Parade Ground before Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and Chief Ministers of BJP/NDA-ruled states, becoming the first Chief Minister of West Bengal from the BJP.

By the time the week ended, he had convened his first Cabinet meeting, unlocked four stalled CBI investigations, suspended three sen...