Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 4, 2026-- the day BJP won the West Bengal elections to put an end to TMC's 15-year rule-- affirmed that the party's first government in the state would provide opportunities and self-respect to all sections.
The BJP promised "sushasan" (good governance), replacing what it described as a governance of coercion and intimidation under the TMC regime. The people of Bengal expected this to cover welfare, investment, employment, security and dignity across communities.
A hundred days into the BJP rule, it is still too early to judge how the government has fared.
The early record is mixed. The period has seen swift action on administrative priorities such as border infrastructure and welfare restructuring. But it has also exposed the fiscal limitations of ambitious promises, generated unrest among sections of beneficiaries and raised questions about how a party accustomed to opposition politics responds to dissent and institutional conflict.
The first 100 days are therefore less a verdict on Suvendu Adhikari as Chief Minister than a glimpse of the challenges before him in governing Bengal.
The welfare paradox
The party's Sankalpa Patra promised monthly financial assistance of ₹3,000 to women to ensure their economic independence. This was a continuation of the previous TMC regime’s scheme, but with the benefits doubled. Naturally, this proved to be a major swing factor in the polls.
Among the first things Suvendu Adhikari addressed after assuming office was the rollout of a revised scheme for women, the Annapurna Yojana. The scheme entails a hiked payout of ₹3,000, up from ₹1,500 under the earlier regime. A statewide free bus travel scheme for women was also launched, but withdrawn after a month. In the Assembly, a proposal for 33% reservation for women in government jobs was easily passed.
Once in office, Adhikari allocated ₹36,000 crore to the scheme in the state budget. But despite his diligence, implementation proved considerably more difficult.
The rollout of the popular scheme got off to a slow start, with 70 lakh fewer women eligible than under the previous regime. Many remain uncertain about their eligibility even after Adhikari’s August 17 deadline to address grievances and release payments to those eligible. This triggered gheraos of ministers and administrative offices, street protests and railway blockades by women across Bengal.
The political opposition in the state, including the West Bengal Pradesh Congress, said that a full year’s monthly payment of ₹3,000 to 1.45 crore women would require ₹52,200 crore. The TMC says its government allocated ₹26,700 crore for 2025–26 to pay ₹1,500 per month to 2.41 crore beneficiaries.
State Finance Minister Swapan Dasgupta argued that although the payout had doubled, the allocation need not be doubled. “Lakshmir Bhandar was a universal scheme; in comparison, Annapurna is a targeted scheme,” he said.
His argument is fiscally defensible, but politically, it alters the expectations created by the BJP’s electoral promise. This gap between an electoral promise and an administratively targeted welfare programme is where much of the current public angst lies.
Beefing up national security
If welfare represents the government’s biggest implementation challenge, border security is arguably its strongest early administrative achievement.
The BJP and Union Home Minister Amit Shah had always maintained that cross-border infiltration and inadequate border infrastructure were top priorities. Within weeks of assuming office, the state government approved the transfer of 1,129 acres of land required for Border Security Force and Sashastra Seema Bal infrastructure and fencing projects — land that had reportedly remained pending for years amid political hurdles with the TMC government.
Shah recently praised the Suvendu Adhikari government for taking quick action within 45 days, as stated in the party’s poll manifesto.
Whether one agrees with the BJP’s broader political narrative on infiltration, the decision is a good example of a political announcement being turned into tangible policy action and a long-standing administrative bottleneck being resolved.
Politics of dissent
Bengal’s youth have always been vocal, particularly at times when young people are dissenting nationwide. So, on July 24, when youth took to the streets to protest the NEET-UG question paper leak, police were sent to quell the demonstrators, and Suvendu Adhikari, who is also the Home Minister, termed them “foreign-funded fundamentalists” and “Shukrobariya” (Friday-goers).
The ensuing clashes resulted in several arrests. But after the episode came under the scrutiny of the Calcutta High Court and a status report was sought from the state government on the violence, many of those arrested had to be released. A student-led protest over a national examination crisis had quickly become a debate over policing and the maintenance of democratic dissent in Bengal.
The challenge became sharper after the lynching and subsequent death of Sheikh Mohammad Mafik, a 55-year-old factory worker in Bankura, following an alleged attack by local BJP goons on his home. Mafik died while shielding his 25-year-old son, Abdul Hafiz, a Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) volunteer associated with the School Thik Karo campaign. The CJP accused the BJP of the attack, while Suvendu Adhikari dismissed these claims and said hardened criminals were responsible. His administration reached out to Mafik’s family and offered cash compensation. Some of the alleged perpetrators were later arrested by the police.
The incident is significant as it reflects the atmosphere of heightened political confrontation accompanying Bengal’s transition of power.
A similar dilemma surfaced at Jadavpur University on the intervening night of August 20 and 21, when ABVP activists attacked the main administrative building and trampled its historic emblem, designed by legendary Indian artist Nandalal Bose. Adhikari reacted by saying, “Jadavpur University mein kuch nahi hua” (“nothing happened at Jadavpur University”). Instead, he ordered an inquiry into “anti-national” wall graffiti on the campus.
In contrast, his cabinet colleagues Swapan Dasgupta and Agnimitra Paul struck a conciliatory note, publicly condemning the campus vandalism and damage to its historic emblem. This reflected differing political tones within the ruling establishment.
For the BJP, universities will remain an important governance test. Ideological battles have always occurred on Bengal’s campuses. Whether the Suvendu Adhikari government can handle dissent within the cultural framework and ethos of Bengal, or ends up antagonising young voters ahead of the upcoming municipal and panchayat polls, remains to be seen.
Investments & jobs
The promise of economic revival and the creation of 1 crore jobs in five years was one of the pillars of the BJP’s poll campaign in Bengal.
The government has announced or facilitated a series of major investment proposals across steel, dairy, ports and healthcare. It has also announced a ₹5,000 crore industrial incentives package intended to link government support with employment generation.
But projects such as a ₹15,000 crore steel plant, an Amul facility or a future healthcare city cannot be assessed through the lens of 100 days; such projects take years to materialise. The more relevant questions are whether land acquisition has progressed, whether regulatory approvals are being expedited, and whether jobs and infrastructure are eventually created. For Adhikari, these will matter far more than headline investment numbers.
To realise the state’s blue economy ambitions, the government has shown intent to revive the Dadanpatrabar deep-sea port for Adani Ports. But fisheries, a key component of Bengal’s blue economy vision, are yet to see comparable fiscal or policy support. Here too, the first 100 days have generated movement, but not closure.
Responsible governance culture
The most difficult of the BJP’s electoral promises was not financial or administrative. It was cultural and political.
“Bhoy noy, Bhorsha” (“Trust, not Fear”) was the campaign’s defining message — a direct appeal to voters fatigued by years of political violence and polarisation. Governing under this slogan requires more than changing the occupants of Writers’ Building. It demands institutional restraint, transparent law enforcement, protection of dissent and the ability to separate party mobilisation from state authority.
The events of the past hundred days suggest that this transition is still largely incomplete.
Employment numbers will eventually test whether the BJP can turn its most ambitious electoral promise into a measurable outcome. The state already has an estimated 85 lakh unemployed and could add another 600,000 to 800,000 to the unemployed workforce every year. Gen Z voters will watch what the Adhikari government does on this front to assess whether the BJP can be trusted.
The BJP’s first hundred days are therefore neither an unqualified success nor a straightforward failure. They reveal something more politically significant: the realities of governing Bengal are proving far more complex than the rhetoric of winning Bengal.
The Bengal BJP, meanwhile, will need to strengthen its grassroots organisation, but it must also recognise that inducting former TMC office-bearers could trigger more infighting and a loss of trust among its party ranks.
For Suvendu Adhikari’s administration, the next phase will determine how his early months as CM are remembered. Welfare delivery must become predictable. Investment announcements must evolve into employment. Border security gains must coexist with democratic confidence. And, perhaps most importantly, a government elected on the promise of trust must demonstrate that political change can translate into a culture of good governance.
This is the test that will matter far more than the first hundred days.
