'He was always hardworking': Teacher recalls Bengal CM Suvendu Adhikari as student

Kolkata, Himangshu Maji, a retired teacher from Contai in Purba Medinipur district, fondly remembered West Bengal's new Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari as a hardworking student and said he felt proud to see him lead the state's first BJP government.

Maji said Adhikari was a commerce student at the Contai Prabhat Kumar College and had served as the cultural secretary of the students' union.

"Besides attending classes, Suvendu took private tuition from me. He was always very hardworking," the proud teacher said, adding that the teacher-student relationship between them stayed intact even when Adhikari entered full-fledged politics and rose in stature.


"During the municipal election campaign, he came to our neighbourhood and visited my house as well. The moment he entered, he touched my feet and sought to know about my well-being," Maji recalled.

About the Adhikari family, the teacher said he shared a warm relationship with the chief minister's father, Sisir Adhikari, who was then the chairman of the Contai municipality.

"Suvendu used to travel to the municipality office by rickshaw every day. Whenever he spotted me on the road, he would ask me to join him," Maji said.

The retired teacher, however, said there was a time when he had raised concerns about Adhikari's academic focus.

"When Suvendu was in Class 11, I had complained to Sisirbabu once or twice about his academic performance. I never liked student politics. As a teacher, I always told students to concentrate on studies first," he said.

Expressing pride over the rise of his former student, Maji said, "A few BJP supporters who live near my house had come to collect flowers from our garden for the Bhavatarini temple after Suvendu's victories in Nandigram and Bhabanipur. I told them to take all the flowers they wanted."

"What could be a greater matter of joy than seeing someone from a marginal district rise to become the chief minister of the state?" he added.

Suvendu Adhikari and five other BJP MLAs took the oath at the iconic Brigade Parade Grounds in Kolkata on Saturday in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, the BJP's central leadership and chief ministers of NDA-ruled states.