Suvendu Adhikari, the man who kept the Nandigram anti-land acquisition movement alive in 2007 as a trusted Trinamool Congress lieutenant, is now set to become the first Chief Minister of a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government in West Bengal since Independence — a political journey spanning nearly two decades, two defections of loyalty, and two historic defeats of a sitting Chief Minister.

On Friday, 8 May, Union Home Minister Amit Shah formally endorsed Adhikari's name as the unanimously accepted leader of BJP's Legislative Party in the West Bengal Assembly, sealing his elevation to the state's top executive post after BJP's landmark victory of 207 Assembly seats, reducing the All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) to just 80.

The Nandigram Crucible

To understand Adhikari's rise, one must go back to 2007 and two anti-land acquisition movements that collectively dismantled the 34-year Left Front regime in West Bengal. The first was against Tata Motors' small car project at Singur in Hooghly district, led prominently by Mamata Banerjee herself. The second — arguably the more consequential — was at Nandigram in East Midnapore district, against a proposed chemical hub by the Indonesia-based Salim Group.

Banerjee delegated the Nandigram movement to Adhikari, her then-trusted lieutenant. The task was formidable. Nandigram was virtually surrounded by the dedicated cadre force of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) — CPI(M) — led by the then three-time Lok Sabha member from Tamluk, Lakshman Chandra Seth. A heavy police contingent added to the pressure. Adhikari responded by uniting villagers to cut off all approach roads to the movement's epicentre, preventing both police and CPI(M) cadres from entering. He also mobilised support from ultra-left groups to keep the agitation alive.

On 14 March 2007, police opened fire on protesters, killing 14 villagers. The incident triggered state-wide outrage, with intellectuals, celebrities, and civil society members pouring onto the streets. According to political analysts, this moment — more than Singur — created mass abhorrence of the Left Front among voters across West Bengal, ultimately contributing to its fall in the 2011 Assembly elections.

Electoral Ascent and Cabinet Role

The 2009 Lok Sabha elections marked Adhikari's formal entry into electoral politics. Contesting on a TMC ticket from Tamluk, he defeated the same CPI(M) strongman Lakshman Chandra Seth by a margin of over 1.70 lakh votes. He retained the seat in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls as well.

Before the 2016 West Bengal Assembly elections, Banerjee brought him into the state Cabinet. He won from the Nandigram Assembly constituency and was appointed state Transport Minister. In that role, he is credited with introducing fuel-efficient electric buses across state transport corporations — a widely noted administrative achievement.

The Break With Trinamool Congress

Cracks in Adhikari's relationship with TMC began surfacing around 2019, when Abhishek Banerjee — Mamata Banerjee's nephew and a TMC Lok Sabha member — was allowed to drive key party organisational decisions and reportedly influence state Cabinet functioning. Several old-timers in TMC felt sidelined.

The estrangement deepened after the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, in which BJP won from 18 of 42 constituencies in West Bengal — its best-ever performance in the state. Adhikari openly attributed this to flawed political and administrative policies of the TMC government.

The final rupture came in 2020, when Abhishek Banerjee brought in the Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC) as TMC's vote-strategy agency. According to reports, I-PAC began influencing administrative decisions in several ministries, including Adhikari's — a development he reportedly found unacceptable. He resigned from the state Cabinet and as a legislator, and joined the BJP at an event attended by Home Minister Amit Shah.

Giant-Killer: Defeating Mamata Banerjee Twice

In the 2021 West Bengal Assembly elections, Adhikari contested as the BJP candidate from his native Nandigram constituency — the same seat where Mamata Banerjee chose to run as a TMC candidate. He defeated her, earning the 'giant-killer' tag. Though BJP finished with just 77 MLAs statewide, Adhikari became Leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly.

Banerjee subsequently won a by-election from Bhabanipur and continued as Chief Minister for a third consecutive term. Adhikari, meanwhile, used his Opposition platform aggressively — mobilising mass movements on issues including the cash-for-jobs scam, alleged atrocities against Hindus, the Sandeshkhali women harassment case, and the rape and murder of a junior doctor at R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata. He was suspended from the Assembly floor multiple times by then-Speaker Biman Bandopadhyay for his combative interventions, but continued protests within the Assembly premises.

Simultaneously, Adhikari focused on strengthening BJP's organisational base in East Midnapore district. In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, BJP won both Tamluk — where former Calcutta High Court judge Abhijit Gangopadhyay won — and Kanthi, where Adhikari's younger brother Soumendu Adhikari triumphed. Both seats had been TMC strongholds since 2009. Notably, their father, veteran politician Sishir Adhikari, had been the sitting MP from Kanthi from 2009 to 2024.

BJP's Bengal Sweep and What Comes Next

In the recently concluded West Bengal Assembly elections, BJP candidates won from all 16 Assembly constituencies in East Midnapore district. Statewide, BJP secured 207 seats, with TMC reduced to 80. Adhikari himself won from both Nandigram and Bhabanipur, defeating Mamata Banerjee at Bhabanipur by a margin of over 15,000 votes — his second successive defeat of a sitting Chief Minister.

With Home Minister Shah's endorsement formalised on 8 May, Adhikari stands as the unanimous choice to lead Bengal's first BJP government since Independence — a trajectory that began not in a party office, but in the paddy fields of Nandigram.