After a shocking defeat in the election, which would put his capacity to maintain policy stability in a coalition government in the most populous country in the world to the test, Narendra Modi was sworn in as India’s prime minister for a third term.
At a ceremony on Sunday at Rashtrapati Bhavan, the president’s palace in New Delhi, thousands of dignitaries, including the leaders of seven neighboring nations, Bollywood celebrities, and businessmen, witnessed the administration of Modi’s oath of office by India’s President Droupadi Murmu.
Minutes before taking the oath of office, Modi wrote on X, his handle for India in Indian languages, saying, “Honored to serve Bharat.”
The 73-year-old politician, clad in a blue half jacket and white kurta tunic, was greeted with applause and chants of “Modi, Modi” as he was called to take the oath.
Following his oath of office, Modi promised to uphold the Indian constitution while being accompanied by representatives of his Hindu-nationalist party and the heads of his coalition partners.
Senior ministers from the previous administration, including Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, Nitin Gadkari, Nirmala Sitharaman, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, and Piyush Goyal, whose portfolios have not yet been revealed, followed Modi.
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.
Thanks to the backing of 14 regional parties in his BJP-led National Democratic Alliance, he was able to earn a third term during a multi-stage election that finally finished on June 1. His party had secured an absolute majority in the previous two periods of office.