Kolkata: The swearing-in ceremony at Kolkata’s Brigade Parade Ground witnessed a poignant scene as Prime Minister Narendra Modi walked up to 97-year-old Makhanlal Sarkar, embraced him, and touched his feet in a mark of deep respect. The gesture drew attention to Sarkar’s decades-long contribution to the nationalist movement and the growth of the Bharatiya Janata Party in West Bengal.
A resident of Siliguri, Sarkar is regarded as one of the seniormost BJP workers in the state. According to Samik Bhattacharya, he was a close aide of Syama Prasad Mukherjee and accompanied him during his historic journey to Kashmir in the early years after Independence.
VIDEO | Siliguri, West Bengal: Makhanlal Sarkar's son Maniklal Sarkar says, "I was teary-eyed on seeing the respect my father got. The Prime Minister and the BJP did not forget about my father. Even my father felt extremely happy. At this age he was taken to the stage and… https://t.co/hEYgslmZOy pic.twitter.com/YtgO6ulGbX
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) May 9, 2026
In 1952, Sarkar was arrested in Kashmir while accompanying Mukherjee during a movement to hoist the Indian tricolour in the region. Mukherjee later died under controversial circumstances in a Kashmir jail, making Sarkar one of the last surviving witnesses to that defining chapter in India’s political history.
Recalling another striking episode from his life, Bhattacharya said Sarkar was once arrested for singing a patriotic song during the Congress era. When produced in court, he refused to apologise, maintaining that he had committed no crime. At the judge’s request, Sarkar sang the song again in the courtroom—an act that reportedly moved the judge to order that he be sent home with a first-class ticket and travel expenses.
Sarkar continued his political journey through the decades. After the formation of the BJP in 1980, he took on the role of organisational coordinator across West Dinajpur, Jalpaiguri, and Darjeeling districts, enrolling nearly 10,000 members within a year—an impressive feat during the party’s early years in the region.
From 1981 onward, he served continuously for seven years as district president, an exceptional tenure at a time when party leaders rarely held the same organisational post for more than two years.
Even at 97, Makhanlal Sarkar remains a symbol of commitment and ideological dedication, his life reflecting the early struggles and steady expansion of the BJP in West Bengal. Prime Minister Modi’s gesture served as a public acknowledgement of that legacy, bringing a veteran foot soldier of the movement into the national spotlight once again.
