Modi sworn in as PM for third consecutive term; Rajnath, Shah, Gadkari return as ministers

NEW DELHI — Narendra Modi was sworn in as Prime Minister at the Rashtrapati Bhavan here on Sunday, becoming only the second PM after Jawaharlal Nehru to secure a third consecutive term.

Along with Modi, who took oath in the name of God, senior BJP leaders Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, Nitin Gadkari, Nirmala Sitharaman and S Jaishankar were sworn in as cabinet ministers, indicating the Prime Minister’s emphasis on continuity and experience as they also held senior positions in his second term.

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 and Jual Oram, all from BJP, were among those sworn in as ministers.

President Droupadi Murmu administered the oath of office to them.

Modi, 73, first became prime minister in 2014 and then returned to office in 2019. He was re-elected to Lok Sabha from Varanasi.

Among the allies of the BJP, which did not get a majority on its own this time, JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy, HAM (Secular) chief Jitan Ram Manjhi, JD(U) leader Lalan Singh and TDP’s K Ram Mohan Naidu also took the oath of office as ministers.

Congress president and Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge was present, even as several opposition leaders skipped the ceremony.

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.

Bollywood actors Shahrukh Khan and Rajinikanth, and industrialists Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani were among those who attended the swearing-in ceremony.

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 BJP-led National Democratic Alliance has 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 — Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu, Bangladesh Premier Sheikh Hasina, Nepal Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’, Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe, Mauritius Prime Minister Pravind Kumar Jugnauth, Bhutanese PM Tshering Tobgay and Vice-President of Seychelles Ahmed Afif — 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.

Nearly 9,000 people were estimated to be present at the forecourts of the Rashtrapati Bhavan for the grand event.