New Delhi, May 26: Narendra Modi, India's 15th prime minister, took
oath on Monday at a ceremony held in the open at Rashtrapati Bhavan and
attended by the Who's Who of the nation - including political leaders,
business honchos, celebrities and leaders of religious faiths - as well
as leaders of neighbouring countries.
The oath of office and secrecy was administered in Hindi to Modi by
President Pranab Mukherjee.
There was a certain poignancy to the momentous occasion as the
inauguration of a new prime minister happened exactly 50 years after the
death of India's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru.
Present on the occasion of the change of guard was the outgoing prime
minister Manmohan Singh, who remained 10 years at the helm when the
general election left the Congress battered and reduced to its lowest
tally of 44 seats in the Lok Sabha.
A council of ministers, numbering around 45, also took oath.
Among the foreign leaders who attended the ceremony at the forecourt of
the presidential palace were Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif,
Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai and Sri Lankan President Mahinda
Rajapaksa.
Also present were Mauritius Prime Minister Navinchandra Ramgoolam, Nepal
Prime Minister Sushil Koirala, Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay of Bhutan
and Bangladesh parliament Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi, her son and party vice president Rahul
Gandhi and former presidents A.P.J. Abdul Kalam and Pratibha Patil were
among the over 4,000 people who gathered on the occasion.
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