New Delhi: Narendra Damodardas Modi of BJP hit a hattrick as he took oath as Prime Minister of India for the 3rd consecutive time today at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi.
However, the event was a bit subdued as Modi’s BJP couldn’t get the desired seats and thus had to rely on Chandrababu Naidu’s TDP and Nitish Kumar’s JDU.
As noted by senior journalist, Rajdeep Sardesai, unlike in 2014 and 2019, there were no prominent Hindutva and RSS faces visible in the front rows of the gathering that watched the oath-taking ceremony. However, people like Shahrukh Khan, a Bollywood actor, were visible.
Narendra Modi was sworn in as prime minister on Sunday for a record-equalling third term, heading a Cabinet that emphasised continuity and experience while also rewarding partners in the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance government.
Along with Modi, senior BJP leaders including Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, Nitin Gadkari, Nirmala Sitharaman and S Jaishankar, all ministers in Modi 2.0 Cabinet, took oath as cabinet ministers at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
President Droupadi Murmu administered the oath of secrecy and office to Modi and 30 Cabinet ministers.
Dressed in a white kurta and churidar with a blue chequered jacket, Modi, 73, took the oath in the name of God. Modi became only the second prime minister after Jawaharlal Nehru to secure a third consecutive term.
In the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections, the BJP failed to win a simple majority, making it dependent on allies whose MPs also took the oath of office as Cabinet ministers — JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy, HAM (Secular) chief Jitan Ram Manjhi, JD(U) leader Rajiv Ranjan Singh ‘Lalan’, TDP’s K Ram Mohan Naidu and LJP-RV leader Chirag Paswan. Each of these five allies got one cabinet berth. Kumaraswamy and Manjhi are former chief ministers of Karnataka and Bihar respectively.
BJP Party president J P Nadda returned to the cabinet after five years, while former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and ex-Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar were the fresh faces in the Modi cabinet.
BJP leaders Piyush Goyal, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Dharmendra Pradhan and Bhupender Yadav, who were earlier in the Rajya Sabha but have now been elected to the Lok Sabha, were among those retained as ministers.
Former Assam CM Sarbananda Sonowal, Ashwini Vaishnaw, Virendra Kumar, Pralhad Joshi, Giriraj Singh, Jual Oram, C R Paatil, who is Gujarat BJP president, Mansukh Mandaviya, G Kishan Reddy, Hardeep Singh Puri, Kiren Rijiju, Annapurna Devi and Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, all from BJP, were among those sworn in as Cabinet ministers.
Congress president and Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge was present, even as several opposition leaders skipped the ceremony.
Ahead of the oath-taking ceremony, Modi had a pep talk with the minister-designates, saying people have huge expectations and everyone will have to deliver, sources said
Be humble as common people love those who are humble and never compromise on probity and transparency, he told the minister-designates.
Those present on the occasion included Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud, TDP president Chandrababu Naidu and JD(U) chief Nitish Kumar.
Modi’s third term, which always appeared inevitable, did not come with the massive mandate he and his party had been claiming, as the Congress and its allies in the INDIA bloc fought a doughty rearguard battle to shock the BJP in its strongholds such as Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan.
It is, however, a tribute to his towering political presence that the BJP’s third-best tally of 240 seats is being seen as a disappointment by the party’s ardent supporters and projected as a “moral defeat” by the Congress whose own tally of 99 seats, its third worst, is being hailed by the opposition party.
The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) won 293 seats out of 543, which Modi has noted is the biggest success for any pre-poll alliance when a single party did not get a majority.
Top leaders from India’s neighbourhood and the Indian Ocean region were special guests at the function.
In addition to political leaders and eminent persons from different walks of life, members from the transgender community as well as sanitation workers and labourers, who were involved in the construction of the new parliament building, also attended the swearing-in ceremony of Modi and the new council of ministers.
Over 8,000 invitees present at swearing in ceremony
Political veterans and debutants, business leaders and showbiz stars, almost everybody who is anybody in India, and many who are not… more than 8,000 people packed into the Rashtrapati Bhavan forecourt on Sunday as Narendra Modi was sworn in as prime minister for a third consecutive term.
As the blazing sunny day dulled into a warm evening, the swearing-in ceremony of the Modi 3.0 government unravelled against the backdrop of the magnificent sandstone dome of the columned presidential palace lit in saffron, white and green. It was the final chapter of a 44-day election that saw the Modi-led BJP come to power with 240 seats, more than 60 seats less than 2019, and now dependent on its allies in the NDA.
There were bugles, ceremonial guards, flowers and all the trappings of a grand spectacle as President Droupadi Murmu administered the oath of office. But the political overtones dominated them all. The list of potential ministers was analysed and speculated on endlessly to see which allies would be accommodated, how many from the partner NDA parties — particularly from the TDP and the JD-U, which together won 28 seats — which leader would be repeated, which of the newbies would get a berth.
At the grand show, almost in the nature of a US Inauguration Day, just as closely scrutinised was the guest list.
There weren’t too many opposition leaders. Congress president and Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge was there but several others skipped the ceremony.
Among those present were seven top leaders from India’s neighbourhood and the Indian Ocean region – Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu, Nepal’s Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’, Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Mauritius Prime Minister Pravind Kumar Jugnauth, Bhutan’s Tshering Tobgay and Seychelles Vice President Ahmed Afif.
In 2014, when Modi took the reins as prime minister for the first time, the leaders of regional grouping SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) countries attended the swearing-in ceremony. In 2019, it was the leaders of the BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) countries.
Also unmissable were the several religious leaders attending the ceremony.
And there was the splash of stardust with Bollywood stars Shah Rukh Khan, Anil Kapoor, Rajinikant, Akshay Kumar, Raveena Tandon and Anupam Kher. Kangana Ranaut, the BJP’s debutant MP from Mandi in Himachal Pradesh, was there of course.
Who came with whom, who was sitting with whom and who was dressed in what. The details were watched closely by millions on myriad screens across the country.
Industrialists Gautam Adani, his wife and brother, Mukesh Ambani and his family, including his sons and daughter, were there as was Chief Justice DY Chandrachud. Former presidents Ram Nath Kovind and Pratibha Patil also attended the event.
At the other end of the ‘power spectrum’ were people from the transgender community as well as sanitation workers and labourers, who were involved in the construction of the new parliament building. Chants of “Modi, Modi” went up as the prime minister came up the slope of the Raisina Hill.
BJP MP Anurag Thakur, who was not in the list of ministers, leading to much discussion on why and what next for him, said people who participated in ‘Mann ki baat’ and those involved in Vikshit Bharat Abhiyan and the NaMo app were also invited to the ceremony.
Individuals like Shehla Rashid, the one time student leader who was a ferocious critic of the government and is now a vocal supporter of it, were there too. She put out a post on X saying, “Honoured to join in, with prayers for the progress of the nation… #Modi3.0.”
As the hours passed by and dusk darkened to night, 73-year-old Modi was formally back in power. Modi equaled the feat of the first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, who won in the 1952, 1957 and 1962 general elections.
Besides him, 30 cabinet ministers and five ministers of state with independent charge were sworn in as were the members of his council of ministers.
Another chapter in the country’s political history has opened up. Till the next election.
Seven former CMs part of new council of ministers
Seven former chief ministers, including Narendra Modi, are part of the new council of ministers sworn in on Sunday.
The other six former chief ministers are Shivraj Singh Chouhan (Madhya Pradesh), Rajnath Singh (Uttar Pradesh), Manohar Lal Khattar (Haryana), Sarbananda Sonowal (Assam), H D Kumaraswamy (Karnataka), and Jitan Ram Manjhi (Bihar).
While five of these former chief ministers are from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Kumaraswamy and Manjhi represent two of the BJP’s allies — JD(S) and Hindustani Awam Morcha, respectively.
Modi, along with his council of ministers, took the oath as the new coalition government was formed after two full tenures during which the BJP enjoyed a majority on its own.
LG greets Modi
Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha today extended his heartiest greetings and best wishes to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on taking the oath for his third term as Prime Minister of India.
He posted on X: “Historic moment for Bharat! Congratulations to Hon’ble PM Shri @narendramodi Ji on taking the oath for 3rd term as Prime Minister of India. Under your visionary leadership, the nation will continue to move forward on the path of peace, progress, prosperity & achieve newer heights”.
