Mamata Banerjee takes oath as WB CM for 3rd consecutive term; 'Bengal facing dark era,' says BJP leader

Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday took oath as West Bengal Chief Minister for the third time after the party registered a massive win in the 2021 state Assembly Elections. Soon after, Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated Mamata Banerjee.

"Congratulations to Mamata Didi on taking oath as West Bengal's Chief Minister. @MamataOfficial," tweeted the PM.

The swearing-in ceremony of the TMC chief as the West Bengal CM at Raj Bhavan was a low-key programme. Senior TMC leaders like Partha Chatterjee and Subrata Mukherjee, poll strategist Prashant Kishor and Mamata Banerjee's nephew Abhishek Banerjee were present at the ceremony.

CMs of other states and leaders of other political parties were not invited to the ceremony in the wake of the current COVID-19 situation.

West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar administered her the oath of office and secrecy. Mamata Banerjee took the oath in the Bengali language.

After taking the oath, Mamata Banerjee urged all the political parties to ensure that peace prevails in the state.

"I thank all the people who were looking at the Bengal elections. Our first priority is tackling COVID-19. Secondly, I urge all political parties to look around so that violence to be controlled. From today onwards, I am taking law and order into my hands. I will post policemen accordingly to tackle the situation," she said after taking the oath, adding: "I will hold a big celebration once the pandemic is over."

Meanwhile, Jagdeep Dhankhar hoped that the CM will take urgent steps to restore the rule of law. "I congratulate Mamata Ji on her third term. Our priority is that we must bring an end to this senseless violence that has affected society at large. I have every hope that the CM on an urgent basis will take all steps to restore rule of law," said Dhankhar.

Notably, following the declaration of the Assembly Election results on May 2, there were reports of violence erupting in different parts of the state.

In the meantime, Bharatiya Janata Party's national IT head Amit Malviya took to Twitter and said: "Mamata Banerjee’s swearing-in as Chief Minister of West Bengal is not just tainted by her personal defeat in Nandigram but also with the blood of lakhs of BJP workers and supporters, who have been at the receiving end of TMC’s retributive violence. Bengal is facing a dark era..."

In the 2021 West Bengal elections, the TMC secured 213 out of the 292 Assembly seats, while the BJP emerged as the second-largest party with 77 seats.

However, Mamata Banerjee had faced defeat at the hands of her one-time aide and BJP candidate Suvendu Adhikari from the Nandigram constituency in the East Midnapore district.