Second swearing-in ceremony of Narendra Modi


Narendra Modi, parliamentary leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party, started his tenure after his swearing-in as the 16th Prime Minister of India on 30 May 2019. Several other ministers were also sworn in along with Modi. The ceremony was noted by media for being the first ever swearing-in of an Indian Prime Minister to have been attended by the heads of all BIMSTEC countries.

Background

Post the declaration of election results in May 2019, Modi met the President of India Ram Nath Kovind in May where Kovind invited Modi to form the next government. The BJP had won 303 seats and their alliance National Democratic Alliance won a total of 353 seats in the 543-seat Lok Sabha, the strongest mandate since the 1984 elections where Indian National Congress had won. The BJP then announced that Modi would be sworn in on 30 May 2019 at 7 p.m. For the first time in India, a non-Congress led government has repeated its tenure.

Invitees

Along with Mauritius and Kyrgyzstan, all the countries in BIMSTEC were invited distinct from invitation to SAARC countries in first ceremony. Over 8,000 Indian and international guests including various politicians, diplomats, government officials, constitutional authories and heads of the states were invited.

International dignitaries

Eight foreign leaders attended PM Modi's swearing-in ceremony.
of all the Indian states were listed among invitees. However, Navin Patnaik, CM of Odisha, Bhupesh Baghel, CM of Chhattisgarh and Jagan Mohan Reddy, CM of Andhra Pradesh were unable to attend ceremony. Mamata Banerjee, Chief Minister of West Bengal rejected the invitation. Besides that, various opposition leaders including Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi and former Prime Ministers were invited. A number of Indian businessmen, sportsmen and film artists also made it into the list of guests invited. Families of BJP workers who were left dead in alleged violence by TMC in West Bengal were also invited to the ceremony. Many religious leaders belonging to all major religions were also invited.

Reactions

- Imran Khan, Prime Minister of Pakistan congratulated Narendra Modi just after exit polls. Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and various Pakistani media outlets accused Modi of pursuing anti Pakistan policy for political gains for not inviting Pakistani head of the state to ceremony.
- The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company marked the occasion by lighting up the ADNOC Headquarters in Abu Dhabi with the colors of the Indian and UAE flags and portraits of Narendra Modi and Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.