Meet Makhanlal Sarkar: The 98-Year-Old BJP Veteran Whose Feet PM Modi Touched At Bengal Oath Ceremony
At the swearing-in ceremony of West Bengal’s first-ever BJP government since Independence, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made an emotional gesture that quickly caught national attention on Saturday.
Before the ceremony began at Kolkata’s Brigade Parade Ground, PM Modi walked up to 98-year-old BJP veteran Makhanlal Sarkar, bowed respectfully, and touched his feet to seek blessings.
The moment came just before Suvendu Adhikari took oath as West Bengal’s first BJP Chief Minister.
Makhanlal Sarkar is regarded as one of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s oldest grassroots leaders in West Bengal.
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He has been associated with nationalist politics since the early years after Independence and played a major role in expanding the BJP’s presence in north Bengal.
In 1952, Sarkar was arrested in Kashmir while accompanying Syama Prasad Mukherjee during a movement linked to hoisting the Indian national flag.
After the BJP was formed in 1980, Sarkar worked as an organisational coordinator across districts, including West Dinajpur, Jalpaiguri, and Darjeeling. Within a short period, he reportedly helped enroll nearly 10,000 party members, strengthening the BJP’s grassroots network in the region.
He also served continuously for seven years as district president, an unusually long tenure during that period.
The ceremony marked a major milestone for the BJP in West Bengal. The party won 207 seats in the 2026 Assembly elections, ending the 15-year rule of the Trinamool Congress.
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Suvendu Adhikari, who contested from Nandigram and Bhabanipur, defeated former Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in Bhabanipur by more than 15,000 votes.
Several senior BJP leaders, including Rajnath Singh, J. P. Nadda, and Himanta Biswa Sarma, attended the event.
Calling it the beginning of a “Sonar Bangla” era, Adhikari described the swearing-in as a historic moment for West Bengal politics.
