adminNEW DELHI —Narendra Modi (63), India’s 15th Prime Minister, took oath yesterday at a ceremony held in the open at Rashtrapati Bhavan and attended by the Whos Who of the nation, including political leaders, business honchos, celebrities and leaders of religious faiths, as well as leaders of neighbouring countries.
Modi was sworn in as premier with the strongest mandate of any leader for 30 years, promising to forge a “strong and inclusive” country on a first day that signalled his bold intentions.
The oath of office and secrecy was administered in Hindi to Modi by President Pranab Mukherjee.
The pro-business leader was also expected to reveal a sharply reduced government of 45 members, a cut of 26 from that of his predecessor Manmohan Singh, to try to speed up decision-making and slash India’s notorious bureaucracy.
“Together we will script a glorious future for India,” Modi said in a statement posted on the website of the prime minister shortly after he took the oath in front of President Pranab Mukherjee.
“Let us together dream of a strong, developed and inclusive India that actively engages with the global community to strengthen the cause of world peace and development,” the statement said.
There was a certain poignancy to the momentous occasion as the inauguration of a new Prime Minister happened exactly 50 years after the death of India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.
Present on the occasion of the change of guard was the outgoing Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who remained 10 years at the helm when the general election left the Congress battered and reduced to its lowest tally of 44 seats in the National Assembly (Lok Sabha).
A council of ministers, numbering around 45, also took oath.
Among the foreign leaders who attended the ceremony at the forecourt of the Rashrapati Bhavan were Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai and Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
Also present were Mauritius Prime Minister Navinchandra Ramgoolam, Nepal Prime Minister Sushil Koirala, Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay of Bhutan and Bangladesh parliament Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi, her son and party vice president Rahul Gandhi and former presidents A P J Abdul Kalam and Pratibha Patil were among the over 4,000 people who witnessed the ceremony. — Times of India/AFP/HR.
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