Modi 2.0 era begins; 58-member team takes charge

Narendra Modi was on Thursday sworn in for his second term as the Prime Minister at a glittering ceremony in the forecourt of the Rashtrapati Bhavan, heralding the continuity of a welfare-oriented right-wing government for the next five years.

With the BJP-led NDA having swept the recent Lok Sabha elections, winning 352 of 542 seats and securing a huge mandate, there are strong expectations that Modi 2.0 will deliver fast-track reforms on two crucial factors of productivity — land and labour — in the coming days, thereby helping the stuttering economy to grow fast.

Modi, 68, and his Cabinet colleagues were administered the oath of office and secrecy by President Ram Nath Kovind at the ceremony, attended by about 6,000 invitees, including foreign dignitaries, BIMSTEC leaders, Chief Ministers of States, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das, corporate honchos, including Ratan Tata, Mukesh Ambani and Tata Sons chief N Chandrashekhar, besides sports and film personalities, including Rajnikanth and Karan Johar.

As many as 58 Ministers, including Prime Minister Modi, were sworn in today. There were 25 Cabinet Ministers, nine Ministers of State (with independent charge), and 24 more Ministers of State.

There are only three women Cabinet Ministers — Smriti Irani, Harsimrat Kaur Badal and Nirmala Sitharaman — in the Modi 2.0 team. In all, Team Modi has six women Ministers — three Cabinet and three Ministers of State.

This is the second time that Modi took the oath of office in the forecourt of the Rashtrapati Bhavan. In 2014, Modi was sworn in by then President Pranab Mukherjee in the presence of over 3,500 guests.

The previous occasions when Prime Ministers took the oath of office in the Rashtrapati Bhavan forecourt were in 1990 (Chandra Shekhar) and 1999 (Atal Bihari Vajpayee).

Team Modi 2.0 has a blend of experience and some youth; several of the Ministers in the earlier Modi–led regime found a place in the second term as well.

Modi 2.0’s Cabinet team comprised almost all the seniors — except Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj who opted out — of his earlier innings.

Among the ‘old guard’ are Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari, Sadananda Gowda, Nirmala Sitharaman, Piyush Goyal, Ram Vilas Paswan, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Narendra Singh Tomar, Harsimrat Kaur Badal, Thaawar Chand Gehlot, Smriti Irani and Harsh Vardhan. BJP President Amit Shah, a first-time Member of Parliament, was inducted into the Council of Ministers.

The BJP’s allies who secured ministerial berths are from the Akali Dal and the Shiv Sena.

22 ministers dropped

About 22 Ministers from the earlier Modi-led Government have been dropped. Some of the key Ministers who did not make it are Suresh Prabhu, Maneka Gandhi, JP Nadda, Radha Mohan Singh and Jayant Sinha.

Some of the new faces in the Council of Ministers are Arvind Sawant, Prahlad Joshi, Arjun Munda, Ramesh Pokhariyal and S Jaishankar.

Among the Ministers who took their oath in English were Rao Inderjit Singh, S Jaishankar, Nirmala Sitharaman and Harsimrat Kaur Badal.

Those who had been chosen for ministerial berths met the Prime Minister at his residence at 4.30 pm, shortly before the swearing-in ceremony, sources said.

Earlier in the day, Modi had a final round of consultations with BJP President Amit Shah to give shape to his Cabinet. Both Shah and Modi had had several rounds of discussions in the past two days.

From the Opposition parties, the Congress was represented at the swearing-in ceremony by UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Congress President Rahul Gandhi and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

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