CONTAI: “ Yes, we are his guardians but only at home. Outside, the people of Bengal are his guardians, now,” Sisir Adhikari, Suvendu Adhikari’s father, himself a former junior Union minister, told reporters on Saturday after watching his son being sworn in as Bengal’s ninth chief minister. “As a family, we are praying he performs his duty towards the people and works for them to the best of his ability.”Sisir, who himself was in Congress earlier, pointed out he saw 32 years of Congress governance, 35 years of the Left, followed by 15 years of the Trinamool. “I understand the situation well. Bengal is suffering badly from unemployment and several other problems. Earlier, women suffered a lot but now the focus should be on ensuring respect and safety for women, along with generating employment,” he said.
Stressing his confidence in his son, Adhikari-senior said, “He is experienced enough. He has served as an MLA and a municipality chairperson. He has experience in the cooperative sector, especially with the Urban Cooperative Bank. We were MPs together for nine years. Later, he returned to the state and handled seven departments as a minister.”Suvendu’s mother, Gayatri, could not hold back her emotions. In a rare interaction with reporters, shesaid, “What is happening is good, it feels good. Yes, that is what the boy wanted. He has struggled a lot for five years. He has come back from the brink of death thrice and there have been murder attempts four times. Till today, from the north, south and east… that boy has fought alone. And whatever he learned since childhood came from his father. His father was like that, too.”Recalling his childhood, Gayatri said, unlike now, Suvendu used to be a shy child. “Till the time he appeared for Madhyamik, he hardly even left the house. It was only after college admissions, that he started going out. Every afternoon, he would leavewith a bucket and a shovel and tend to a kitchen garden on the spot, where we have our garage now. He grew cauliflower, aubergine, tomato, green chilli, bottle gourd and pumpkin. He had a flower garden upstairs as well. After he left (for work), massive lotuses bloomed in my house. I had said then, ‘now, the lotus (BJP symbol) is coming’,” she said.Suvendu apparently loves to have panta-bhaat (fermented rice). “Yes, I used to give it to him at night, especially when it was very hot. All he needed was panta-bhaat, mashed potato (alu bhaate), a piece of fried fish or an egg omelette,” said the new CM’s mother.Suvendu has always been a follower of Swami Vivekananda. “He has been extremely pious since he was a small boy. If there was a Saraswati Puja anywhere, he would go. He visited the Missions. He is a huge follower of Vivekananda. He gets very happy when monks (maharajas) visit our home. Even the other day, a monk came over. Even as a child, he would donate his pocket money to the ashram,” Gayatri said.But, she added, his father was the person Suvendu idolised. “Suvendu gets this flair for politics from his father. When his father was Suvendu’s age, he used to struggle like this, too. His father fought the CPM all alone back when they were in power. They (the children) watched their father and learned everything from him,” she said.
