New Delhi. Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Narendra Modi on Sunday took oath as Prime Minister for the third consecutive term. Modi, who led a full majority government in his previous two terms, will, however, lead a coalition government this time.
He will head a Cabinet that rewards the inclusion of allies of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and relies on the experience of senior leaders who were part of the previous government. Along with Modi, senior BJP leaders including Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, Nitin Gadkari, Nirmala Sitharaman and S Jaishankar took oath as Cabinet ministers at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. President Draupadi Murmu administered the oath of office and secrecy to Modi and 30 Cabinet ministers.
Wearing a white kurta and churidaar pyjama and a blue jacket, 73-year-old Modi took oath in the name of God. Modi is the second prime minister after Jawaharlal Nehru to achieve this feat for three consecutive terms. In the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections, the BJP failed to secure a majority. Due to this, it became dependent on allies whose MPs took oath as cabinet ministers.
JD(S) leader HD Kumaraswamy, HAM (Secular) chief Jitan Ram Manjhi, JD(U) leader Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias ‘Lalan’, TDP’s Ram Mohan Naidu and LJP (Ram Vilas) leader Chirag Paswan took oath as cabinet ministers. Each of these five allies has got one cabinet berth. Kumaraswamy and Manjhi have been chief ministers of Karnataka and Bihar respectively.
BJP president J P Nadda has returned to the cabinet after five years, while former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and former Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar are new faces in the Modi cabinet. BJP leaders Piyush Goyal, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Dharmendra Pradhan and Bhupendra Yadav also took oath as cabinet ministers. All these leaders were earlier in the Rajya Sabha, but have now been elected to the Lok Sabha.
Former Assam Chief Ministers Sarbananda Sonowal, Ashwini Vaishnav, Virendra Kumar, Prahlad Joshi, Giriraj Singh, Jual Oram, CR Patil, Mansukh Mandaviya, G Kishan Reddy, Hardeep Singh Puri, Kiren Rijiju, Annapurna Devi and Gajendra Singh Shekhawat also took oath as Cabinet ministers.
BJP has not been able to get absolute majority in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. It has got 240 seats. However, the BJP-led NDA crossed the majority mark with 293 seats. After this, in the NDA meeting, Modi was recently elected the leader of the BJP and NDA parliamentary party.
After being elected leader, Modi went to Rashtrapati Bhavan and met Draupadi Murmu and staked claim to form the government.
Many top leaders of the country and abroad also attended the swearing-in ceremony. Congress President and Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge was also present on this occasion, although many opposition leaders did not attend the ceremony. Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, TDP President Chandrababu Naidu and JD (U) chief Nitish Kumar were also present on this occasion.
Bollywood actors Shah Rukh Khan, Rajinikanth, industrialists Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani were among those who attended the swearing-in ceremony. Several top leaders from India’s neighbourhood and the Indian Ocean region, including Maldives President Mohammed Muizzu, Nepal Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ and Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe, were present on the occasion of the swearing-in ceremony.
Mauritius Prime Minister Pravind Kumar Jagannath, his Bhutanese counterpart Tshering Tobgay, Bangladesh President Sheikh Hasina and Seychelles Vice President Ahmed Afeef also attended the swearing-in ceremony. Muizzu’s visit is considered very important among foreign leaders, as it has taken place amid the ongoing tension in relations between India and Maldives.
Leaders of regional grouping SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) countries had attended Modi’s first swearing-in ceremony when he took over as prime minister after the BJP’s landslide electoral victory. When Modi became prime minister for the second consecutive term in 2019, leaders of BIMSTEC countries had attended his swearing-in ceremony. This time, apart from political leaders and eminent personalities from various walks of life, members of the transgender community as well as sanitation workers and labourers also attended the swearing-in ceremony of Modi and the new council of ministers. Around 9,000 people were present in the courtyard of Rashtrapati Bhavan for this grand event.