- Sunday, February 23, 2025
Foreign leaders had been invited to New Delhi when the Indian PM had taken oath for the first time in 2014 and second time in 2019.
By: Shubham Ghosh
INDIAN prime minister-elect Narendra Modi is likely to take oath to the office for the third consecutive time on Saturday (8) and he will only be the third to do so after Jawaharlal Nehru and Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Modi is only the second PM after Nehru to take oath for a third after completing two full consecutive terms.
Like in the past, top leaders from India’s neighbouring countries in south Asia have been invited to the oath-taking ceremony, reflecting New Delhi’s ‘Neighbourhood First’ policy.
According to a report by NDTV, the leadership of Bangladesh and Sri Lanka have confirmed their presence at the event after speaking to the Indian PM-elect over the phone. Modi on Wednesday (5) was chosen by his allies as the leader of the National Democratic Alliance that emerged as the largest bloc in this year’s general election.
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Sheikh Hasina, the prime minister of Bangladesh and known to be friendly towards India, was among the first foreign leaders to congratulate Modi over the victory of his alliance. She is expected to reach Delhi on Friday (7), on the eve of the event, according to her country’s media.
The media division of Sri Lankan president Ranil Wickremesinghe’s office also confirmed that he has accepted the invitation to attend the event and also congratulated the Indian leader on his electoral victory.
Formal invitations have also been sent to the prime ministers of Nepal, Bhutan and Mauritius, reports said.
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A number of leaders of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation attended Modi’s swearing-in ceremony when he first took oath as the prime minister in 2014. Among the attendees was the former prime minister of Pakistan, Nawaz Sharif.
In 2019, the leaders of the BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) countries attended Modi’s second oath-taking ceremony.
Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party did not get a majority on its own in the latest election and ended up with 240 seats in a Lok Sabha or Lower House of the parliament of 543 seats. It now requires the support of other members of the NDA to cross the magic figure of 272 which, according to many, makes the third government of Modi vulnerable to coalition pressure.
