Narendra Modi has been sworn in as prime minister of India for a historic third term, ushering in a new era of coalition politics for India’s strongman leader.
The ceremony, which took place at the president’s residence on Sunday evening, marked Modi’s return to power, only the second leader in India’s history to win three consecutive terms.
A beaming Modi stood next to two BJP heavyweights, Rajnath Singh and Amit Shah, who were both confirmed to return as cabinet ministers. As he stepped up to the podium to make his pledge, loud cheers erupted from the vast crowds that gathered to watch the ceremony.
Modi’s third term is likely to take a different shape from his previous decade in office after his Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) faced an unexpectedly challenging election. The BJP won the most seats in the polls, which took place over almost two months with the results finally announced on Tuesday, but fell short of an absolute majority.
Modi had to rely on coalition partners, notably three small regional parties, to give the the BJP enough seats to claim a parliamentary majority and form the government. Analysts believe the BJP’s new dependence on coalition parties could curtail some of the more authoritarian and dictatorial tendencies of the government in the past and force Modi to engage in consensus politics for the first time.
Heads of state from neighbouring countries including the Bangladesh prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, and the Sri Lankan prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, flew in to attend the ceremony. Also in attendance were two of India’s richest industrialists, Gautam Adani and Mukesh Ambani, who are seen to enjoy a close relationship with Modi, and the Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan.
Mallikarjun Kharge, the president of the Congress party, attended the ceremony as a representative for the opposition, but all other opposition leaders snubbed it. Mamata Banerjee, the head of the opposition Trinamool Congress party, said she would not be attending as the government was being formed “illegally and undemocratically”, adding that governments “sometimes last only for a day”.
