NEW DELHI: It was an unusual gathering of film stars and sadhus, eager South Asian leaders and sulking regional satraps, of senior diplomats watching Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s inaugural and a tea vendor from a leftist university commandeered as a mascot for the social mix that marked the glittering swearing-in ceremony at the British-built Presidential Palace here on Monday.
Several old hands found berths in the new cabinet with Sushma Swaraj being assigned the foreign ministry despite her initial differences with Mr Modi. She is said to be planning to start work at 8am on Tuesday, hitting the ground running, as the new prime minister prepares to hold bilateral talks with his key guests from South Asia during the day.
Ms Swaraj has worked closely with the media from India and Pakistan, though as information minister in 2002 she is thought to have played a hand in the abrupt ending of the Agra summit.
This time her brief is entirely different and her role in bilateral talks with Mr Sharif’s foreign policy adviser Sartaj Aziz on Tuesday will aim to underscore the point.
Sushma Swaraj named foreign minister
Senior leader Arun Jaitley has been assigned the defence ministry though his primary responsibility will be as the new finance minister. He will probably present the budget in July.
Other senior portfolios include Bharatiya Janata Party president Rajnath Singh who will be the home minister. Other portfolios include: Ananth Kumar — parliamentary affairs and additional charge of chemicals and fertilisers; Nitin Gadkari — surface transport and shipping; Sadanand Gowda — railways; Venkaiah Naidu — urban development and parliamentary affairs; Ravi Shankar Prasad — telecom, law and justice; Maneka Gandhi — women and child development; Najma Heptullah — minorities; Smriti Irani — human resource development; Radha Mohan Singh — agriculture; Nirmala Sitharaman — minister of state for commerce; Piyush Goel — minister of state for power (independent); Prakash Javadekar — minister of state for information and broadcasting; Ram Vilas Paswan — food and civil supplies; Uma Bharati — union minister for water resources and Ganga; and Jual Oram — cabinet minister for tribal affairs.
In a message on the prime minister’s website addressed to fellow Indians and citizens of the world, Mr Modi said the people had 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. 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.”
Mr Modi said he envisioned his website “as a very important medium of direct communication between us”.
He was a firm believer in the power of technology and social media to communicate with people across the world. “I hope this platform creates opportunities to listen, learn and share one’s views.”
As was to be expected, given the wide support he enjoyed among India’s business captains, a galaxy of industry leaders, including Mukesh Ambani, Gautam Adani, Sunil Mittal and Ashok Hinduja, attended the star-studded swearing-in ceremony.
The who’s who of corporate India rubbed shoulders with political bigwigs and diplomats on the forecourt of Rashtrapati Bhavan at its biggest-ever ceremony with close to 4,000 people attending Mr Modi’s inauguration.
Reliance Industries Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh Ambani, his wife Nita and two sons, his brother Anil and family, and their mother Kokilaben Ambani were in attendance, as were Adani Group head Gautam Adani and his wife.
Hinduja Group of Companies (India) Chairman Ashok Hinduja as well as Essar head Shashi Ruia and its CEO Prashant Ruia were present.
The Mittal brothers — Sunil, Rajan and Rakesh, DLF vice-chairman Rajiv Singh, Hero MotoCorp Managing Director and CEO Pawan Munjal, Suzlon Group Chairman Tulsi Tanti and Videocon Group’s Rajkumar Dhoot were also present.
From the aviation sector, Jet Airways founder Chairman Naresh Goyal and CEO of new entrant AirAsia India Mittu Chandilya were present.
Film industry stalwarts including Rajinikanth, Amitabh Bachchan, Salman Khan, Lata Mageshkar, Rekha, Vivek Oberoi, Anupam Kher, Javed Akhtar, Salim Khan and others were invited to attend the ceremony. While some celebrities were present, some skipped the ceremony.
Published in Dawn, May 27th, 2014
