Narendra Modi was sworn in as India’s Prime Minister for a historic third term, ushering in a new era of coalition politics for India’s strongman leader.
The ceremony, held at the presidential residence on Sunday evening, marked Modi’s return to power, only the second leader in Indian history to win three consecutive terms.
A beaming Modi stood alongside two BJP heavyweights, Rajnath Singh and Amit Shah, who were confirmed to return as cabinet ministers. As he took the podium to deliver his pledge, the huge crowds that had gathered to watch the ceremony erupted into wild cheers.
Modi’s third term is likely to take a different shape than his previous decade in office as his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) faces an unexpectedly challenging election. The BJP won the most seats in the nearly two-month-long election, with results finally announced on Tuesday, but fell short of an absolute majority.
Modi had to rely on coalition partners, particularly three small regional parties, to give the BJP enough seats to claim a parliamentary majority and form the government. Analysts believe the BJP’s new reliance on coalition parties could curb some of the government’s more authoritarian and dictatorial tendencies of the past and force Modi to engage in consensus politics for the first time.
Heads of state from neighboring countries, including Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, flew in to attend the ceremony. Also present were two of India’s richest industrialists, Gautam Adani and Mukesh Ambani, who are believed to enjoy a close relationship with Modi, and Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan.
Mallikarjun Kharge, the president of the Congress party, attended the ceremony as the representative of the opposition, but all other opposition leaders turned it down. Mamata Banerjee, the head of the opposition Trinamool Congress party, said she would not attend because the government was being formed “illegally and undemocratically”, adding that governments “sometimes last only a day”.
