In a glittering ceremony at the forecourt of the Rashtrapati Bhavan on Thursday, Narendra Modi took oath as the prime minister of India for a second consecutive term. Modi, along with his council of ministers, was administered the oath of office and secrecy by President Ram Nath Kovind. The ceremony was attended by a galaxy of world leaders, besides politicians and celebrities.
Modi took charge as the 15th prime minister of India, the second after Indira Gandhi to come back to power with a massive mandate. BJP president Amit Shah, who meticulously led his party to an emphatic victory in the recent Lok Sabha elections, also joined the Modi cabinet.
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Other ministers who took oath on Thursday are: Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari, D.V. Sadananda Gowda, Nirmala Sitharaman, Ram Vilas Paswan, Narendra Singh Tomar, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Harsimrat Kaur Badal, Thawar Chand Gehlot, Ramesh Pokhriyal, Arjun Munda, Smriti Irani, Harsh Vardhan, Prakash Javadekar, Piyush Goyal, Dharmendra Pradhan, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Prahlad Joshi, Mahendra Nath Pandey, Arvind Sawant, Giriraj Singh, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Santosh Gangwar, Rao Inderjit, Shripad Naik, Jitendra Singh, Kiren Rijiju, Prahlad Singh Patel, R.K. Singh, Hardeep Singh Puri, Mansukh Lal Mandaviya, Faggan Singh Kulhaste, Ashwini Choubey, Arjun Meghwal, V.K. Singh, Krishan Pal Gurjar, Raosaheb Danve, G Kishan Reddy, Purshottam Rupala, Ramdas Athawale, Niranjan Jyoti, Babul Supriyo, Sanjeev Balyan, Sanjay Dhotre, Anurag Thakur, Suresh Angadi, Nityanand Rai, Rattan Lal Kataria, V Muraleedharan, Renuka Singh Saruta and Som Parkash.
"Honoured to serve India!" tweeted Modi after taking the oath for the second consecutive term.
Some of the key ministers in the previous Modi government, including Sushma Swaraj, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore and Maneka Gandhi were not part of the new council of ministers.
From Thailand, its Special Envoy Grisada Boonrach represented the country. Besides India, BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) comprises Bangladesh, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Nepal and Bhutan as members.
Kyrgyz President and current chair of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Kyrgyz President Sooronbay Jeenbekov, and Mauritius PM Pravind Kumar Jugnauth also attended the event.
