*Swaraj, Maneka, Smriti among 7 women get Ministerial berths
NEW DELHI, May 26: Marking the beginning of a new era in Indian politics, Narendra Modi was today sworn in Prime Minister at the head of a 45-member coalition Government after the elections threw the first Government with absolute majority in 30 years.
63-year-old Modi, the first leader to get a landslide majority for BJP on its own, became the 15th Prime Minister in a virtual ‘coronation’ ceremony in the forecourt of the Rashtrapati Bhawan before a 3000-strong gathering, the largest audience at the swearing in of new Government.
Rajnath Singh, Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley, M Venkaiah Naidu, Nitin Gadkari, Uma Bharti, Maneka Gandhi, Ananth Kumar, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Smriti Irani and Harsh Vardhan were among those who were sworn in as Cabinet Ministers.
Ram Vilas Paswan (LJP), Harsimrat Kaur Badal (Akali Dal), Anant Geete (Shiv Sena) and Ashok Gajapathi Raju (TDP) were those from allied parties who took the oath today.
Dignitaries from politics, industry, cinema and religion, capped by leaders of SAARC nations including Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, watched Modi take the oath of office and secrecy in Hindi.
Vice President Hamid Ansari, outgoing Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, his Ministerial colleagues P Chidambaram, Sharad Pawar, Praful Patel and Pallam Raju, Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, senior BJP leaders L K Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, outgoing Speaker Meira Kumar, former Presidents Abdul Kalam, Pratibha Patil were among those who attended the ceremony.
Differences during elections melted away before protocol as opponents including Mulayam Singh Yadav, his son and UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi, Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi and Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda were present at the ceremony.
Top industry figures like Mukesh Ambani and his family, his brother Anil, Kumarmangalam Birla, Sashi Ruia, Gautam Adani and V N Dhoot, film stars Salman Khan along with his father Salim Khan, Vivek Oberoi, Dharmendra and Anupam Kher, lyricist Javed Akhtar were present along with a clutch saffron-robed seers including Pejawar Mutt chief Vishwendra Teertha Swamy. Cricketing great Sunil Gavaskar was also present.
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse, whose effigy was burnt some kms away in the morning, Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Mauritius President Naveen Chandra Ramgoolam were the other foreign dignitaries present at the ceremony.
At the end of the 90-minute swearing-in ceremony, Modi shook hands with all the heads of Governments from abroad after the President took a group photograph with the new Council of Ministers.
Modi also exchanged greetings with the outgoing PM. Shortly later, it was all disorder as the gathered crowd sought to greet the new PM that led to pushing around.
The other BJP MPs, who were sworn in as Cabinet Ministers were Gopinath Munde, Sadanand Gowda, Kalraj Mishra, Najma Heptullah, the lone Muslim face, Narendra Singh Tomar, Jual Oram, Radha Mohan Singh and Thawar Chand Ghelot.
Former Army chief Gen V K Singh was inducted into the Council of Ministers as Minister of State with independent charge along with nine others. They are Rao Inderjit Singh, Santosh Kumar Gangwar, Shripad Naik, Dharmendra Pradhan, Sarbananda Sonowal, Prakash Javadekar, Piyush Goel, Jitender Singh and Nirmala Seetharaman.
12 other Ministers of State were inducted. They are G M Siddeshwara, Manoj Sinha, Nihal Chand, Upendra Khushwaha, Pon Radhakrishnan, Kiren Rijiju, Krishen Pal, Sanjiv Kumar Baliyan, Mansukhbhai Vasava, Rao Saheb Danve, Vishnudev Sai and Sudarshan Bhagat.
Immediately after taking over as Prime Minister, Modi promised to take the country’s development journey to newer heights and sought people’s support, blessings and active participation to “script a glorious future for India.”
In his first message to the nation after taking oath at the sprawling forecourt of Rashtrapati Bhavan, Mr Modi exhorted people to dream of a strong, developed and inclusive India that actively engages with global community to strengthen the cause of world peace and development.
“Together we will script a glorious future for India. Let us together dream of a strong, developed and inclusive India that actively engages with the global community to strengthen the cause of world peace and development,” the Prime Minister said in his message which was posted on the official website of the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) which was updated within seconds of Mr Modi being sworn-in.
Recalling May 16 when results of Lok Sabha elections were out and the BJP registered a resounding victory, Mr Modi said the people of India had given their verdict and delivered a mandate for development, good governance and stability.
“As we devote ourselves to take India’s development journey to newer heights, we seek your support, blessings and active participation,” the Prime Minister said.
Referring to the updated website of the PMO, Mr Modi said he was a firm believer in the power of technology and social media to communicate with people across the world.
“I envision this website as a very important medium of direct communication between us. I hope this platform creates opportunities to listen, learn and share one’s views.”
He said the website would give all the latest information about his speeches, schedules, foreign visits and lot more. He also assured that he would keep informing the people about innovative initiatives undertaken by the Government of India.
Following is the text of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s message:
Meanwhile, there are seven women ministers including six with Cabinet rank in the 45-member Council of Ministers headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Barring Nirmala Sitharaman, who has been made Minister of State with Independent Charge, rest including Sushma Swaraj, Uma Bharti and Najma Heptulla, the lone Muslim face, have been given Cabinet rank.
Maneka Gandhi, Harsimrat Kaur Badal and Smriti Zubin Irani have also been made Cabinet Ministers.
When the UPA Government was sworn-in, there were 80 ministers including nine women.
Incidentally, both the youngest and the oldest members in the Modi Cabinet also happens to be women -Smriti and Najma.
Swaraj has been elected seven times as MP and three times as a Member of the Legislative Assembly. She also has the distinction of becoming the youngest cabinet minister at 25 in Haryana.
Grand-niece of eminent freedom fighter Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad, Heptullah was once a prominent Congress member in the Rajya Sabha. She left the party in 2004 due to a strain in relationship with top party leaders for her close association with the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-headed NDA Government and joined the BJP.
Bharti, a firebrand leader and Hindutva mascot, was actively involved in the ‘Ramjanmabhoomi’ movement. Known for her fiery speeches, her association with the temple movement placed her prominently in the BJP alongside party veterans L K Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi.
Animal-rights activist Gandhi made a comeback to the Union Cabinet as the only member of the Gandhi family in the BJP-led Government.
Irani, the youngest member in the Cabinet, was one of the most popular faces on the small screen. She had unsuccessfully taken on Rahul Gandhi in the high-profile Lok Sabha poll battle in Amethi.
Daughter-in-law of Punjab Chief Minister Parakash Singh Badal, Akali Dal MP Harsimrat is a prominent face of the party in Parliament.
Sitharaman is an articulate BJP spokesperson who has been rewarded with a ministerial berth.
Moments after Modi was sworn in as Prime Minister today, elite Special Protection Group took over his security forming a ring around him as well as Gujarat Bhavan where he is temporarily staying.
Senior officials said, the SPG which protects the Prime Minister, former Prime Ministers and their families, had sanitized the Gujarat Bhavan as Modi was expected to stay there for a couple of days before moving into the prestigious 7 Race Course Road, the official residence of the PM.
They said the guest house in 7, Race Course Road had also been prepared in case the Prime Minister agrees to move in.
At present, Gujarat Bhavan, where Modi is staying, has been brought under SPG cover with all the security apparatus and protocols coming into play.
Modi was already enjoying a “special security” protocol around him by the NSG black cat commandos as part of Z plus security ring.
The Home Ministry had already increased the number of NSG ‘black cat’ commandos and the Advanced Security Liaison (ASL) teams were provided with experts from bomb disposal and intelligence for the first time.
The ASL, which comprises officials of the National Security Guard (NSG) and Gujarat police, was asked to scan and prepare advance dossiers and assessment reports of the venues and possible spots where Modi was supposed to visit during his election campaign.
Over 100 NSG commandos were securing Modi with an intention to quickly and continuously replace the “tired” squad with a fresh one during the hectic campaign spree of the BJP leader.
Modi has been a ‘Z+’ category protectee of the NSG and this is the highest level of security provided to VVIPs in the country, a notch just closer to the SPG security provided to the Prime Minister and his immediate family.
Soon after taking over, Prime Minister, held a meeting with officials tonight.
In the meeting, the Prime Minister is believed to have been briefed about his bilateral meetings with heads of States and Governments of SAARC countries, including Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, tomorrow.
“Reached Gujarat Bhavan after the programmes at Rashtrapati Bhavan. Will begin my first official briefing meeting with officials shortly,” Modi said in tweet.
Modi will have “short duration bilateral meetings” with all the SAARC leaders tomorrow.
Besides Sharif and Rajapaksa, Modi is expected to hold meetings with Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai and Bhutanese Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay, Nepal Prime Minister Sushil Koirala and Maldivian President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom.
Meanwhile, Modi’s pictures with his mother offering him sweets after he went to seek her blessings ahead of his swearing-in touched his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif and his mother too.
Modi shared his exchange of thoughts with Sharif during his swearing-in today at Rashtrapati Bhavan on Twitter.
“Nawaz Sharif ji told me that he stays in Islamabad but goes to meet his mother once in a week. This time when he was eating with his mother he saw visuals on TV of my mother offering me sweets,” Modi tweeted.
In another tweet, he said, “The visuals touched both Nawaz Sharif ji & his mother. He told me that after seeing the visuals his mother got very emotional.” (Agencies)
Council of Ministers
Prime Minister: Narendra Modi
Cabinet Ministers:
1. Rajnath Singh
2. Sushma Swaraj
3. Arun Jaitley
4. M Venkaiah Naidu
5. Nitin Gadkari
6. D V Sadananda Gowda
7. Uma Bharti
8. Najma A Heptulla
9. Gopinathrao Munde
10. Ramvilas Paswan
11. Kalraj Mishra
12. Maneka Gandhi
13. Ananthkumar
14. Ravi Shankar Prasad
15. Ashok Gajapathi Raju Pusapati
16. Anant Geete
17. Harsimrat Kaur Badal
18. Narendra Singh Tomar
19. Jual Oram
20. Radha Mohan Singh
21. Thaawar Chand Gehlot
22. Smriti Zubin Irani
23. Harsh Vardhan
Ministers of State (Independent Charge)
1. General (retd) V K Singh
2. Inderjit Singh Rao
3. Santosh Kumar Gangwar
4. Shripad Yesso Naik
5. Dharmendra Pradhan
6. Sarbananda Sonowal
7. Prakash Javadekar
8. Piyush Goyal
9. Jitendra Singh
10. Nirmala Sitharaman
Ministers of State
1. G M Siddeshwara
2. Manoj Sinha
3. Nihalchand
4. Upendra Kushwaha
5. Radhakrishnan P
6. Kiren Rijiju
7. Krishan Pal
8. Sanjeev Kumar Balyan
9. Mansukhbhai Dhanjibhai Vasava
10. Raosaheb Dadarao Danve
11. Vishnu Deo Sai
12. Sudarshan Bhagat (PTI)
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