Narendra Modi Takes Oath for Unprecedented Third Term as India's Prime Minister

For the third time, Narendra Modi was sworn in as India’s prime minister at the presidential house in Delhi.

At a lavish ceremony held at Rashtrapati Bhavan, the president’s residence in New Delhi, President Droupadi Murmu gave Modi the oath of office in front of thousands of dignitaries, including the leaders of seven regional nations, Bollywood celebrities, and businessmen.

Modi, 73, won a third term in elections held on June 1 with the assistance of 14 regional parties in his BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), unlike the previous two periods when his party earned a clear majority.

After Jawaharlal Nehru, the father of Indian freedom, Modi began his career as a publicist for the Hindu nationalist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the political antecedent of his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Modi is only the second person to hold the office of prime minister for three consecutive terms.

The outcome is seen as a big setback to the popular leader as surveys and exit polls had predicted BJP would secure even more seats than in 2019.Modi delivered world beating growth and lifted India’s global standing but appeared to have missed a step at home as a lack of enough jobs, high prices, low incomes and religious faultlines pushed voters to rein him in.

From 2001 to 2014, Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat, a western state, where the BJP enjoyed significant majority support, allowing him to govern decisively. Because of the disparate interests of regional parties and a more formidable opposition, observers predict that Modi’s second term as prime minister will be difficult to reach an agreement on divisive political and policy matters.

Source : Astro Awani