Senior BJP chief and first MLA Swapan Dasgupta was one of many 35 celebration MPs. They have been sworn in as ministers in West Bengal on Monday as Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari expands his cupboard.
Within the latest Bengal meeting elections, which the BJP gained by a landslide, Dasgupta, 70, a journalist-turned-politician, gained from Rashbehari constituency in south Kolkata, defeating incumbent Debashish Kumar of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) by a margin of greater than 20,800 votes.
Dasgupta is a distinguished political commentator and columnist and is understood to be near the central management of the Bharatiya Janata Celebration. He describes himself as “ideologically conservative and nationalist.”
It’s an honor to function a cupboard member within the Authorities of West Bengal. pic.twitter.com/qNscnZkrEg
— Swapan Dasgupta (@swapan55) June 1, 2026
After taking the oath of workplace from Governor RN Ravi on the Lok Bhawan, Dasgupta posted on X: “It’s an honor to be inducted into the Cupboard of the Authorities of West Bengal.”
political innings
Mr. Dasgupta is a member of the Nationwide Govt of the Bharatiya Janata Celebration. The federal government awarded him the Padma Bhushan in 2015, a 12 months after Naredra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Celebration got here to energy on the Centre.
In April 2016, the Modi authorities appointed Dasgupta to the Rajya Sabha as a literary eminent determine. His time period was imagined to final till 2022. Nonetheless, in 2021, Dasgupta resigned from the Rajya Sabha to contest the Bengal elections from Tarakeshwar constituency on the Bharatiya Janata Celebration ticket. He misplaced the election by a margin of about 7,400 votes, though Mamata Banerjee’s TMC returned to energy with a landslide victory within the polls.
1 month later, dasgupta He was reappointed to the Rajya Sabha for the rest of his unique time period, however his authorized sanctity was questioned by opposition events and a few constitutional students.
lengthy journey
Dasgupta hails from Kolkata and obtained his early training at St. Paul’s College and La Martinière. He graduated from St. Stephen’s College in 1975 and gained the Inlaks Scholarship. He obtained his MA and PhD from the College of Oriental and African Research on the College of London. He returned to India in 1979 and took a administration place with the Calcutta Chemical Firm. Inside a 12 months, nevertheless, Dasgupta returned to the UK as a junior analysis fellow at Nuffield School, Oxford, the place he taught and researched South Asian politics.
Later, throughout his journalistic profession, Dasgupta held senior editorial positions in a number of main dailies together with The Indian Specific, Occasions of India, The Statesman and India Right this moment.
He has lengthy supported the Sangh Parivar and defended Modi in common columns in newspapers and tv.
Dasgupta accompanied Bharatiya Janata Celebration stalwart LK Advani on his ‘rath’ from Kanyakumari to Amritsar on his Bharat Uday Yatra within the run-up to the 2014 Indian Parliament polls. He shared the accountability with Rajnath Singh when he undertook the Bharat Suraksha Yatra from Puri to Delhi in 2006.
Future roadmap
After taking the oath as minister on Monday, Dasgupta outlined his new coverage priorities. Bharatiya Janata Celebration Authorities in Bengalis lagging behind in structural growth and governance reform amongst its precedence areas.
“TMC has left Bengal in a totally devastated space. Our first process is to clear the ‘khakra’ (rubbish) and begin the reconstruction and planning course of. Precedence has been set for training, industrial sector, infrastructure growth and restoration of legislation and order,” Dasgupta mentioned.
He emphasised that restoring investor confidence and eliminating corruption from the federal government will stay main challenges. “We even have to revive the belief of the whole investor group. There are such a lot of areas of public life which are deeply corrupt, so it is going to be an enormous problem to revive some integrity to the system,” he mentioned.
Celebration sources mentioned the Bharatiya Janata Celebration is more likely to faucet Dasgupta’s experience within the training sector, the place the earlier Mamata authorities got here underneath fireplace for corruption and instructor recruitment scams. His data and abilities may be utilized by the Bharatiya Janata Celebration to enhance the state’s funds and enhance industries, the official added.
