Modi, Shah share stage

KOLKATA, May 9: Suvendu Adhikari today took oath as West Bengal’s first BJP Chief Minister, ushering in the state’s maiden saffron party government since Independence and marking a tectonic political shift in a region long regarded as the party’s toughest ideological frontier.
The swearing-in at the iconic Brigade Parade Grounds — once the citadel of the Left and later a theatre of TMC dominance– symbolically sealed the BJP’s stunning ascent in Bengal politics, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, chief ministers of NDA-ruled states and the party’s top leadership sharing the stage before a sea of saffron flags and chants of “Jai Shri Ram”.

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Governor RN Ravi administered the oath of office and secrecy to Adhikari amid drumbeats, loud cheers and fluttering saffron flags across the sprawling ground in the heart of Kolkata.
As Modi walked onto the stage, he bent low, touched his forehead to the dais with folded hands and acknowledged the crowd, triggering thunderous applause from lakhs of BJP supporters packed into Brigade.
Dressed in a saffron kurta, white dhoti with a thin red border and a prominent tilak on his forehead, Adhikari took the oath first before greeting the gathering with folded hands. The BJP leader won both Nandigram and Bhabanipur and spearheaded the party’s aggressive campaign against the TMC.
Senior BJP leader and former state president Dilip Ghosh, Agnimitra Paul, Ashok Kirtania, Kshudiram Tudu and Nisith Pramanik were also sworn in as ministers in the six-member cabinet that reflected a social-and-regional balance.
While Adhikari is a Brahmin face, Ghosh represents the OBC community, Kirtania the politically crucial Matua belt, Tudu the tribal Junglemahal region and Pramanik the Rajbanshi population of north Bengal. Two ministers are from north Bengal and three from the south, underlining the BJP’s effort to consolidate its support across regions and communities.
Notably, there was no representative from Kolkata in the first list of ministers, despite the city historically producing some of Bengal’s tallest political leaders and chief ministers.
Sources said more ministers are likely to be sworn in at Raj Bhavan on Monday, when the first cabinet meeting may also take place.
For the BJP, the optics of the venue carried deep political meaning.
Once considered the ideological citadel of the Left and later appropriated by the TMC as a symbol of mass-mobilisation, Brigade Parade Grounds on Saturday became the site of the saffron party’s biggest breakthrough in Bengal, one that the BJP projected as the beginning of a “Sonar Bangla” under a “double-engine government”.
Thousands of BJP workers started arriving at the venue from early morning, carrying lotus-flags, while giant LED screens played campaign speeches of Modi and Adhikari. Chants of “Bharat Mata Ki Jai” echoed across the Maidan as the prime minister arrived for the ceremony.
A makeshift memorial carrying the names of slain party workers was erected near the venue, where many supporters paused silently before entering the main congregation area.
In a post on X, Modi said the sacrifices of BJP workers would remain “a source of strength” for the party, while Shah said the memorial reflected the long struggle of taking the BJP in Bengal “from zero to the pinnacle”.
The BJP secured 207 seats in the 294-member assembly, ending the TMC’s 15-year rule and scripting its biggest electoral success in eastern India.
The party’s rise in Bengal gathered momentum over the past few years through organisational expansion, sharp political polarisation, and aggressive campaigning and high-profile defections from rival parties.
Brigade, which once reverberated with Left slogans during Jyoti Basu’s era and later became Mamata Banerjee’s preferred arena for shows of strength, witnessed an oath-taking ceremony for the first time in the state’s post-Independence history.
Unlike traditional swearing-in ceremonies held at Raj Bhavan, the BJP chose the sprawling Maidan venue to underline the mass character of its victory and to visually frame the transition as a popular mandate rather than a routine constitutional exercise.
For Adhikari personally, the ceremony marked a remarkable political journey from being one of the key architects of the TMC organisation to becoming the man who dethroned the party in Bengal. His switch to the BJP ahead of the 2021 assembly polls altered the political grammar of the state and accelerated the saffron party’s penetration into rural Bengal.
Saturday’s swearing-in marked more than a transfer of power for the BJP. It represented the culmination of a long political project to breach Bengal’s last major resistance to saffron politics from the very heart of Brigade itself.
Soon after taking the oath, Adhikari drove to Jorasanko Thakurbari, the ancestral home of Rabindranath Tagore, and paid floral tribute to the Nobel laureate before formally beginning work as Chief Minister.
“My official work begins after paying tribute to Kaviguru,” he said.
Invoking Swami Vivekananda, Adhikari said Bengal needed rebuilding after years of decline in education and culture.
“This is not the time for criticism… I am everyone’s Chief Minister,” he said.
Later, he also visited the ancestral residence of Jan Sangh founder Syama Prasad Mookerjee and paid floral tribute.
Referring to Modi, Adhikari said the Prime Minister had long wished to see a BJP Government in Bengal and described Saturday as the beginning of a new chapter in the state’s politics.
For the BJP, Saturday was not merely the formal assumption of power, but the rewriting of Bengal’s political folklore from the very ground where its opponents once drew their greatest strength. (PTI)

Decision on recommendations pending for over one year

Over 3 pc increase in electorates

Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, May 9: Significantly, the electoral revision for the Jammu and Kashmir Panchayats has recorded a net ncrease of 3 percent even as final electoral rolls will be published on May 20.

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However, since the Panchayat elections can’t be held in the UT till OBC Commission report granting reservation to the OBCs in the Local Bodies is accepted by the Government, the State Election Commissioner (SEC) has written to the Government in this regard.
SEC Shantmanu told the Excelsior that there has been an ncrease of 4 percent in voter additions during nearly two-month long exercise conducted by the Commission.
Also, he said, there was around one percent deletion of names of the electorates.
Taking deletions into account, the net increase in the Panchayat voter lists has come around at over 3 percent, which is above the annual average of two percent, Shantmanu said.
He added that the final electoral rolls will be published on May 20 as presently the reading work and finalization of lists are on.
Meanwhile, the SEC has written to the UT Government on OBC Commission report which was submitted by the Commission chairman Justice (Retd) Janak Raj Kotwal in February 2025.
The Commission was set up by the Lieutenant Governor’s administration for determining percentage of reservation for OBCs in the Local Bodies.
”Till a decision is taken on the OBC reservation, elections to the Local Bodies can’t be held,” the sources said, adding it was in this context that the SEC has written to the Government for a decision on the Commission report.
Presently, SC/STs and women have reservation in the Local Bodies.
The Panchayats ceased to exist in Jammu and Kashmir on January 9, 2024 and the UT is without the elected Panchayats for past over two years now.
Similar is the case with the Municipalities which completed their term in October-November 2023. Term of the Block Development Councils (BDCs) was co-terminus with the Panchayats and their tenure also ended on January 9, 2024.
Tenure of the District Development Councils (DDCs) ended on February 24, 2026.
Now, the Jammu and Kashmir is without the elected Local Bodies with all three tiers of the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) non-existent.
This was for the first time that the Jammu and Kashmir had all three elected Institutions of the PRIs.
There has been no word from the Government so far on implementation of OBC Commission report or conduct of Panchayat and Municipal elections in Jammu and Kashmir.
During budget session of the Legislature, the Government, in response to several questions, didn’t give any timeline for the Local Body elections.

‘Pak smuggles drugs into J&K’

Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, May 9: Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha today said that Pakistan is smuggling drugs into Jammu and Kashmir and warned drug traffickers that their narco-palaces will be razed and networks uprooted.
Addressing a public gathering here in Anantnag, Sinha said that Pakistan is smuggling drugs into Jammu Kashmir by design.

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“The drug money has been used to build narco-palaces by drug smugglers and a large portion of drug money is being used for terrorism and radicalization,” he said.
The LG said that while drugs are ruining the future of Jammu Kashmir’s youth on one hand, on the other, terror outfits are using that money to buy weapons and that sheds the blood of innocents in J&K.
“This narco-terror network has inflicted suffering on generations of Jammu Kashmir for decades. That is why I always say: drug addiction and terrorism are not separate challenges but they are two faces of the same problem. And I promise all of you that we will not rest until we defeat it,” he added.
Sinha joined Padyatra at Anantnag as part of “Drug-Free J&K Campaign” and walked with thousands of participants along the streets of the town.
The LG called upon police and civil administration to cover every panchayat of Anantnag, and especially reach out to vulnerable areas of the district in next 71 days of campaign.
“A decisive blow is being dealt to the drug smugglers’ network in Anantnag district. Since 11th April, the highest number of 108 NDPS cases have been registered in Anantnag. Narco-palaces worth Rs. 3.5 crore, built with the black money from drugs, have been reduced to dust. Twenty two vehicles have been seized, 8 driving licenses and vehicle registrations have been cancelled. Thirteen drug stores have been sealed for violating the law.”
“I assure the people of Anantnag that not a single smuggler will be left untouched, and the entire machinery involved in the drug smuggling will be uprooted from its roots,” he said.
Sinha stated that the women and youth are the greatest strength of this war on drugs. He said if a family member or a neighbor’s youth is going astray, women and youth club members should bring them back onto the path of correction, and seek the administration’s help if needed.
“I appeal to sportspersons, teachers, and all religious leaders to dedicate the next 71 days with wholehearted commitment to the awareness and rehabilitation campaign, and to pledge to make Jammu Kashmir drug-free”, he added.
“Religious leaders are regarded as the people’s leaders and guides. I want them to provide spiritual and moral guidance to the youth and to warn them about the dangers of drugs,” he said.
“I want to reiterate that this battle is not just the administration’s. It is a collective battle of society. Let’s make a collective promise that we will not allow drug peddlers to thrive in our villages and neighborhoods. We will rehabilitate the youth who are victims of drugs. I firmly believe that when the people stand up for a purpose, their power increases a thousandfold,” he added.
The LG appealed to the people to break the silence to win this war against drugs and all sections of society must speak in one voice about the dangers of drug addiction.

Revised mechanism, timeline yet to be finalized

Experts seek high-level intervention to revive exercise

Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, May 9: Even several months after the verification and handover exercise of priceless Dogra-era treasures housed in the historic Toshkhana at Mubarak Mandi came to a grinding halt following objections by experts over the methodology adopted by the authorities, no serious effort has been made by the Government to restart the stalled process, leaving the fate of invaluable royal artifacts shrouded in prolonged uncertainty.

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After more than 28 years, the Toshkhana was reopened on May 28 last year and inspection of articles lying in the single-lock enclosure was initiated in the presence of officials from the Hospitality and Protocol Department and the Directorate of Archives, Archaeology and Museums.
The exercise was considered a crucial step prior to the formal transfer of these valuable articles from the Directorate of Hospitality and Protocol to the Directorate of Archives, Archaeology and Museums.
However, the process of scientific verification and transfer of the royal treasures came to a grinding halt after experts associated with the exercise expressed reservations over the procedure adopted by the Directorate of Archives, Archaeology and Museums for verification of the artifacts.
Official sources told EXCELSIOR that the Directorate had insisted on taking detailed measurements of each and every article before completion of the inventory and takeover formalities. However, an expert from the School of Architecture of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board, after extending assistance for nearly 15 days, questioned the necessity of measuring every individual item, describing the exercise as highly time-consuming and impractical considering the huge volume of artifacts awaiting verification.
“Similar observations were subsequently conveyed by another national-level expert associated with the exercise. Following these objections, the verification process came to a halt,” sources said. They added that what has raised serious concern in official circles as well as among heritage experts is that despite the passage of several months, the authorities have failed either to modify the procedure or evolve an alternative mechanism for re-starting and expediting the exercise.
“There is neither any clarity on the revised methodology nor any timeline for restarting the stalled process,” sources said, adding that due to non-seriousness in the relevant quarters, the formal transfer of valuable articles from the Directorate of Hospitality and Protocol to the Directorate of Archives, Archaeology and Museums could not reach its logical conclusion.
The Toshkhana houses ornaments and other precious items belonging to the erstwhile princely rulers of Jammu and Kashmir. Several other valuables, however, are stored in a strong room inside the Civil Secretariat, Jammu.
Earlier, the entire armory, jewelry and other precious items were housed in the Toshkhana inside the Mubarak Mandi Complex. However, after the devastating fire of December 15, 2006, most of the precious articles were shifted to a strong room in the Civil Secretariat, Jammu, for safety and security as the fire had rendered the Toshkhana completely unsafe for storing treasures.
The then Administrative Council, vide Decision No. 115/9/2022 dated August 13, 2022, had approved winding up of the Toshkhana Organization and transfer of its assets to the Directorate of Archives, Archaeology and Museums. Subsequently, the Hospitality and Protocol Department, vide Government Order No. 11-JK (H&P) dated August 30, 2022, formally sanctioned closure of the Toshkhana Organization and transferred its sanctioned posts and staff to the Culture Department.
“However, the actual transfer of priceless articles remains incomplete because of procedural bottlenecks,” sources said, adding, “after completion of the verification and handover exercise of priceless Dogra-era treasures housed in the historic Toshkhana, the authorities were supposed to shift focus to the valuables stored in the Civil Secretariat strong room, where the majority of the precious items are presently lying.”
“But due to non-completion of the verification and handover/takeover exercise relating to the Toshkhana, doubts are being expressed over the commencement of a similar exercise in respect of those artifacts kept in the Civil Secretariat,” sources further said.
Heritage experts have stressed the need for immediate high-level intervention to break the prevailing deadlock and ensure early resumption of the verification and handover process, warning that prolonged delays could adversely impact preservation, documentation and scientific management of the priceless Dogra-era artifacts.