No more cut money culture. No more syndicates: Dilip Ghosh
The Statesman | 10 May 2026
Senior BJP leader Dilip Ghosh, who was inducted into the first cabinet of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in West Bengal, said that the party wants to fulfill the expectations of the “people who voted us to power” while keeping in mind Syama Prasad Mookerjee’s vision for the state.
On Saturday, Ghosh, who won from the Kharagpur assembly constituency by a comfortable margin, was sworn in as a minister in the cabinet at the oath-taking ceremony held at Brigade Parade Ground that had Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and BJP’s national president Nitin Nabin in attendance among other senior BJP functionaries.
The ceremony was attended by 20 chief ministers of BJP-ruled states as well.
Speaking to UNI on the sidelines of the swearing-in ceremony of the new BJP ministry, Ghosh said that the party’s long political struggle in the state had finally resulted in a change of regime.
“We have struggled for a long time. The results have now come, and a regime change has taken place. We will have to work for the fulfillment of the wishes of the people and the dream of Syama Prasad Mookerjee,” Ghosh said.
Speaking about the state of affairs in Bengal under the erstwhile Trinamool Congress regime, he said that “change was long overdue in Bengal.”
“We will be the harbingers of change in the state. This was long overdue. While our neighbouring states have surged ahead in terms of development, Bengal has been allowed to languish and its people exploited by corrupt Trinamool Congress leaders at every level. People across every level of society were pained by this but could do little. However, they have given their mandate and have put their faith in us. We will ensure that the cut money culture that had become synonymous in Bengal and the syndicate raj that was prevalent here is demolished and destroyed completely,” Ghosh said.
He also said the new government would honour BJP workers who died during the party’s political movement against what he described as the “misrule” of the Trinamool Congress in the state.
The personal assistant of Suvendu Adhikari was gunned down near his residence in Madhyamgram, North 24 Parganas district, on May 6 by unknown assailants.
At the oath-taking ceremony, a white backdrop adorned with flowers had been set up to mark those supporters and workers who had lost their lives.
In terms of the cabinet, the other MLAs inducted as ministers include Agnimitra Paul, a former fashion designer who has emerged as one of the BJP’s most visible women leaders in Bengal in recent years.
Paul, who used to run her own label Inga, happens to be the only woman inducted into the cabinet till now. She joined the BJP in 2019 and later became president of the party’s Mahila Morcha in the state, succeeding Locket Chatterjee. In 2021, she was appointed general secretary of the BJP’s West Bengal unit.
Ashok Kirtania, elected from Bangaon Uttar in North 24 Parganas, also took oath as a minister. The constituency is regarded as a politically significant Matua-dominated belt. Kirtania comes from a business background and has been involved in local organizational politics for several years.
Another key inclusion was Kshudiram Tudu, a tribal leader from Bankura district who represents the Ranibandh constituency in the Jungle Mahal region.
Nisith Pramanik, regarded as one of the BJP’s leading young faces in North Bengal, was also sworn into the cabinet. Pramanik, who was previously associated with TMC before joining the BJP in 2019, rose rapidly within the party ranks. In 2021, he became the youngest minister in the Union government at the age of 35 after being appointed Minister of State for Home Affairs and Minister of State for Youth Affairs and Sports in the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.