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Monday’s dinner is being viewed as more than just a courtesy meeting. It is also being seen as a symbolic attempt by Suvendu Adhikari to project a different administrative culture.
West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari interacts with people during the ‘Janata Darbar’ programme, at BJP office, in Kolkata, West Bengal. (IMAGE: PTI FILE)
West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari is set to host a dinner for state and central government officials in Kolkata on Monday evening, in what is being seen as both an administrative outreach exercise and a symbolic break from the governing style associated with former chief minister Mamata Banerjee.
The dinner, scheduled at Soujanya auditorium in Alipore, comes amid growing discussion in Bengal’s political and bureaucratic circles over what many insiders describe as a shift from Mamata Banerjee’s combative public style to Suvendu Adhikari’s more formal and conciliatory approach toward bureaucrats.
The political messaging around the event is not just about policy coordination. It is also about language and tone.
According to sources in Nabanna who spoke to News18 Bangla, Adhikari has told officials he wants to end the practice of publicly addressing bureaucrats by name during official meetings and instead maintain formal administrative decorum.
While Mamata Banerjee was known for using the informal Bengali term “tumi” while addressing officers during televised review meetings, officials say Adhikari has consciously adopted the more formal “aapni” while interacting with senior bureaucrats. In Bengali, both words mean “you”, but “aapni” carries a more respectful and formal tone.
The contrast has become a talking point because Banerjee’s administrative meetings often doubled up as public accountability sessions, with district magistrates, police officers and department heads being reprimanded live on television.
At an administrative meeting in Purulia earlier in 2022, Mamata Banerjee sharply questioned District Magistrate Rahul Majumder over allegations linked to corruption and discrepancies in brick kiln revenue collection. “How are you running the district?” she asked during the meeting, while also warning that the matter needed investigation.
Her style of governance had long projected the image of a hands-on “Iron Lady” chief minister willing to publicly pull up officials over delays, corruption allegations or administrative failures.
Similar scenes had played out repeatedly during her tenure. In one such administrative review meeting in 2017, she publicly rebuked the inspector-in-charge of Titagarh police station over alleged inaction against encroachers near a shipbuilding unit in North 24 Parganas.
Those meetings, broadcast live across Bengali news channels, frequently featured top bureaucrats, district officials and police officers being questioned directly by the chief minister before television cameras. Supporters viewed it as accountability in action. Critics, however, argued that it created an atmosphere of fear within the bureaucracy.
Officials quoted by News18 Bangla say Adhikari is attempting to change that atmosphere by assuring bureaucrats that they can work “without fear”. Sources said the chief minister has also stressed the need for smoother coordination between state and central government departments, particularly after announcing that all central welfare schemes would be implemented in Bengal.
Monday’s dinner, therefore, is being viewed as more than just a courtesy meeting. It is also being seen as a symbolic attempt by Suvendu Adhikari to project a different administrative culture.
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