Kolkata: As Suvendu Adhikari took oath as Bengal’s first BJP chief minister, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday felicitated 97-year-old Makhanlal Sarkar, a close associate of Syama Prasad Mukherjee, at the swearing-in ceremony.
Modi greeted Sarkar on stage, presented him with a shawl, hugged him and touched his feet. Later, the Prime Minister shared photographs of the interaction on X and recalled Sarkar’s role in the nationalist movement.
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“Today, as the first BJP government in West Bengal takes oath, it is only natural for all of us to remember Dr Syama Prasad Mukherjee and his everlasting contributions to the nation and especially to West Bengal,” Modi wrote.
“I met Shri Makhonlal Sarker Ji at the oath-taking ceremony in Kolkata. The devoted patriot Shri Sarker had worked with Dr Mukherjee and was also arrested during his time as a companion in Jammu and Kashmir,” he added.
Modi also praised Sarkar’s contribution to building the BJP organisation in Bengal. “He has dedicated his life to expanding the base of our party across West Bengal and inspiring people from all levels to join the party,” the Prime Minister said.
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State BJP president Samik Bhattacharya said Sarkar had been arrested in the Congress era for singing nationalist songs and had remained committed to the nationalist cause throughout his life.
“At a time when BJP has formed governments from Gangotri to Gangasagar, there were many Makhanlal Sarkars in the country who never made headlines,” Bhattacharya said. Now based in Siliguri, Sarkar is regarded as one of Bengal’s oldest grassroots BJP leaders. He was associated with nationalist politics from the post-Independence years and was arrested in Kashmir in 1952 while accompanying Mukherjee during the agitation to hoist the national flag there.
