Over a month after storming to power, the ministerial team that will be led by Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari acquired definite contours with the assignment of 35 portfolios on Wednesday. The real story, as is the case in such instances, has to do more with the signals emanating from the distribution of ministries than the men and women in charge. The Bharatiya Janata Party’s fondness for a centralised ethos has been borne out by the fact that Mr Adhikari would be retaining multiple departments. North Bengal, where the BJP won 40 out of 54 seats, has been rewarded with ministerial representation. Expectedly, the key portfolios pertaining to agriculture, grassroots institutions such as panchayats, backward classes welfare and — notably — education have gone to leaders hailing from the stable of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. This makes tactical and ideological sense for the BJP. Despite its handsome electoral mandate in Bengal, the party is yet to plug its organisational gaps. It is here, in firming the BJP’s organisational roots, that seamless coordination between the party and the RSS could serve as an asset. But would it end up reproducing the hegemony that marked and ultimately led to the fall of its predecessors? The ministers minding various facets of education have their task cut out too. Education has been mired in numerous challenges — paucity of funds, corruption and so on. So the pledge to revive the state’s education sector holds promise. But educational regeneration should not become synonymous with ideological indoctrination, as has been the case with the BJP-led government at the Centre. Health, industry and finance, in a shambles for decades, would be the other hot seats and Bengal would keenly watch the performances of the respective incumbents.
There is one more challenge for Mr Adhikari’s government. It must try and fulfil the needs and the aspirations of all of Bengal. The clefts of religion, class, community or gender should not be pandered to. In over a decade, the BJP and Narendra Modi failed to do justice to the prime minister’s pledge of inclusive development at the national level. It has an opportunity to change that script in Bengal. But is the party keen on it? The initial chatter has not been promising. Even though research has shown repeatedly that a prosperous, equitable society attracts economic benefits as well as electoral brownie points.