Kolkata, May 9 -- Nearly eight decades after Independence, Suvendu Adhikari took oath as the first Bharatiya Janata Party chief minister of West Bengal on Saturday, formally ending the 15-year rule of the Trinamool Congress and ushering in what BJP leaders described as the beginning of a "Sonar Bangla" era.
The oath-taking ceremony took place at the iconic Brigade Parade Ground, a venue that has often stood as a silent witness to Bengal's shifting political tides - from the era of the Red to the rise of the Green, and now to a sprawling sea of saffron.
In a watershed political moment, as the saffron brigade's top leadership walked onto the stage, Governor R. N. Ravi administered the oath of office and secrecy to Adhikari in Bengali at exa...