- More than 4,000 guests watch Modi and his ministers swear their oaths before President Pranab Mukherjee
Indians should dream of a strong, developed and inclusive India that actively engages with the global community to strengthen the cause of world peace and development
Narendra Modi, the Hindu nationalist politician who won a landslide victory in India’s general election this month, was sworn in as the 15th prime minister of the world’s largest democracy, in a spectacular ceremony in Delhi on Monday.
On a hot and dusty evening, with temperatures reaching 40C but with none of the rain that had been forecast, more than 4,000 guests watched Modi and his ministers swear their oaths of office before Indian President Pranab Mukherjee.
Those assembled on the forecourt of the 340-room President’s Residence in the centre of the city included a tea seller from Modi’s home state of Gujarat, the prime minister of Pakistan, several of India’s richest businesspeople, hundreds of parliamentarians, representatives of various religious communities, the elite of the bureaucracy, and Bollywood film stars. They were guarded by 10,000 security personnel, Indian media reported.
Wearing his trademark long-tailed shirt with a pen clipped into the top pocket of his waistcoat, Modi arrived shortly after 6pm and walked past lancers in white uniforms and black turbans to sit on a dais alongside his ministers to be.
Fourteen minutes later, with no trace of the emotion he had shown last week when addressing parliament, the 63-year-old swore in Hindi to “uphold the sovereignty and integrity of India … and … do right to all manner of people in accordance with the constitution and the law, without fear or favour, affection or ill will”.
Fifteen minutes later, a statement was posted on the revamped website of the prime minister’s office, urging Indians to “dream of a strong, developed and inclusive India that actively engages with the global community to strengthen the cause of world peace and development”.
Modi has already signalled the pace with which he hopes to implement change, and his timetable over the coming days reflects the sense of urgency.
The ceremony capped an extraordinary rise from humble origins in a provincial town in Gujarat, 600 miles from Delhi, through decades as an organiser with a hardline conservative revivalist organisation and then long years behind the scenes in the BJP, which he now leads. Modi, who ran Gujarat state from 2001 until a few days ago, had only recently been seen as a serious prime ministerial contender, and has long been considered a political outsider.
However, his resounding victory in the recent polls and the crushing majority now commanded by the BJP give Modi huge authority. The Congress party, which has dominated Indian politics since the country won independence from Britain in 1947, has been reduced to a historic low of 44 of the 543 seats in the lower house of parliament. The party’s key leaders, including Sonia and Rahul Gandhi, attended Monday’s ceremony.
Before the ceremony started, Manmohan Singh, the prime minister for a decade of Congress government, walked across the forecourt to greet the BJP senior leaders, who bowed their heads and put their palms together in the traditional sign of respect.
Critics fear that Modi may exacerbate sectarian cleavages in India and tensions in the region. He has been accused of allowing, or even encouraging, mob violence in Gujarat in 2002. About 1,000 people, mainly Muslims, were killed in rioting that followed an arson attack on a train in which 59 Hindu pilgrims died. Modi, who had been appointed Gujarat’s chief minister the year before, has denied any wrongdoing.
Modi’s decision to invite regional leaders to the ceremony surprised many. Nawaz Sharif, elected prime minister of Pakistan for the third time last year, was among eight leaders of the South Asia Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) invited to attend. Analysts hailed a bold step to launch a policy of regional engagement.
“It’s a great moment – a great opportunity. This is a chance to reach out to each other. Both governments [of India and Pakistan] have a strong mandate,” Sharif told NDTV, a local Indian channel.
The invite had posed a dilemma for Sharif, who leads the conservative pro-business Pakistan Muslim League, as many in the country and elsewhere in the Muslim world see Modi as a hardliner who harbours sectarian prejudices. Sharif was the first premier of Pakistan to be present at an inauguration of an Indian prime minister. The pair shook hands at the end of the ceremony.
Repeated attempts to improve relations between the two states, which both have nuclear arsenals and have fought four wars, have failed, though there have been incremental gains over the last decade. Modi and Sharif will meet on Tuesday (today).
