Prime Minister Narendra Modi takes oath at the Rashtrapati Bhavan dressed in pastels. (Source: BJP/Twitter)Narendra Damodardas Modi was sworn in as the 15th Prime Minister of India on Thursday by President Ram Nath Kovind on the sprawling forecourt of Rashtrapati Bhavan. Besides Modi, the President appointed the Prime Minister’s council of ministers which included Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, Nirmala Sitharaman, Nitin Gadkari, Harsimrat Kaur Badal, Ram Vilas Paswan, Smriti Irani among others. A total of 24 cabinet ministers and as many ministers of states along with nine ministers of states with independent charge took the oath of office and secrecy.
Modi, who served as chief minister of Gujarat for 13 years, assumed the coveted position for a second consecutive term after being elected to Parliament from Varanasi with a landslide margin of over 4 lakh votes. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) under the leadership of Modi mounted a mammoth electoral campaign in the Lok Sabha election and won a staggering 303 seats, while the National Democratic Alliance clinched 352 seats.
68-year-old Modi, who is a seasoned politician has his roots intact in the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS). This was the second time when Modi took the oath of office on the forecourt of the Rashtrapati Bhavan. Earlier, Chandra Shekhar in 1990 and Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 1999 were sworn in at the sprawling forecourt.
