Narendra Modi, who spearheaded the Bharatiya Janata Party to a stunning landslide victory in parliamentary polls, was on Thursday sworn in as India’s Prime Minister for a second successive five-year term, heading the National Democratic Alliance government. Modi, 68, was administered the oath of office and secrecy by President Ram Nath Kovind at a mega glittering ceremony in the forecourt of Rashtraparti Bhavan at 7 pm Indian time in the presence of an estimated 8,000 people including Bangladesh President Md Abdul Hamid and top leaders of six other BIMSTEC countries.
This was the second time that a BJP-led government assumed power in India for the second consecutive time. Atal Bihari Vajpayee was sworn in as the PM after general elections in 1998 and again in 1999. However, while Vajpayee could not complete the full five-year term in 1998, Modi is the first non-Congress PM who began a second term after completing a full five-year term. After Modi, Rajnath Singh, BJP President Amit Shah, Nirmala Sitharaman, Nitin Gadkari, Smriti Irani, Ram Vilas Paswan, Ravi Shankar Prasad, India’s former Foreign Secretary Subramaniam Jaishankar, Dharmendra Pradhan, Piyush Goyal, Prakash Javedekar and senior BJP leader Arjun Munda were among others sworn in. The portfolios of the new ministers are yet to be officially announced. Top Indian opposition leaders including former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress President Rahul Gandhi and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, corporate honchos, film stars and chief ministers were part of the guests at the ceremony. This is the second time Modi took the oath in the forecourt of the Rashtrapati Bhavan. BJP ally Janata Dal (U) would not join the new Modi government, its spokesperson Pavan Varma said on Thursday, in what appears to be a sign of differences with the saffron party over the number of ministerial berths offered to it. "We are not joining the government. This is our decision," Varma, who is also the general secretary of the Janata Dal (United), said. The BJP was offering only one cabinet berth to Janata Dal (U) and sources said the regional party was also unhappy with the portfolio offered to it. The Janata Dal (U), which is headed by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, was not a part of the first Modi government as well. It had aligned with the saffron party in 2017 but had not joined the government. In 2014, Modi was sworn in as PM for the first time by the then President Pranab Mukherjee in the presence of over 3,500 guests including the leaders of SAARC countries. Besides Abdul Hamid, Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena, Nepal Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli, President of Myanmar U Win Myint and Bhutanese Prime Minister Lotay Tshering also attended the gala swearing-in of Modi. From Thailand, its Special Envoy Grisada Boonrach represented the country. Besides India, BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) comprises Bangladesh, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Nepal and Bhutan as members. Kyrgyz President and current chair of Russia and China-led security grouping Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Sooronbay Jeenbekov, and Mauritius PM Pravind Kumar Jugnauth also attended the event.
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