Ahead of the oath-taking ceremony of West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Saturday, all eyes were on the Bengal stage where an elderly BJP worker shared the stage with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Modi also took blessings from the veteran worker, triggering social media curiosity about his identity.
He has been identified as Makhanlal Sarkar, one of the most senior BJP workers in West Bengal.
At the age of 98, Sarkar remains one of the early grassroots figures associated with the nationalist movement in post-Independence India.
In 1952, he was arrested in Kashmir while accompanying Syama Prasad Mukherjee during the movement to hoist the Tricolour there.
After the formation of the BJP in 1980, he became the organisational coordinator for West Dinajpur, Jalpaiguri and Darjeeling districts. Within just one year, he helped enrol nearly 10,000 members.
From 1981 onward, he served continuously for seven years as district president, an exceptional achievement at a time when BJP leaders generally could not remain in the same organisational position for more than two years.
On the Bengal stage on Saturday, Sarkar saw his long-standing dream of a BJP government in Bengal realised and shared the moment of pride alongside PM Modi.
