NEW DELHI 31 May 2019: Narendra Damodardas Modi was sworn in last evening as Prime Minister of India for a second five-year term following the sweeping victory of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led by him in parliamentary elections last week.
The President of the Republic, Ram Nath Kovind, administered the oath of office and secrecy to Modi at Rashtrapati Bhavan, the presidential palace, watched by 8,500 specially invited guests that included heads of states.
India’s new government led by Modi has a total 57 ministers in addition to the Prime Minister. President Kovind administered the oath of office and secrecy to all the new ministers in a ceremony which lasted more than two hours.
Kovind was to announce the portfolios of the new council of ministers late last night on the advice of the Prime Minister, said Wam.
The oath-taking ceremony on the sprawling open forecourt of the presidential palace was attended by leaders of opposition parties which lost the elections, notably former two-term Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the President of the main opposition Congress Party, Rahul Gandhi.
Modi first became Prime Minister of India in May 2014 in a similar election victory. His re-election was hotly contested and represented the biggest exercise in adult franchise in human history in view of India’s huge population.
The election process from the nomination of candidates by political parties to the counting of votes took nearly one and a half months, but was mostly peaceful
Adnoc marks Indian Prime Minister’s inauguration
ABU DHABI: The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc), has marked the inauguration of Narendra Modi as Prime Minister of India.
The Indian and United Arab Emirates flags and a video of His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, and Narendra Modi were displayed on the facade of the Adnoc building in Abu Dhabi, symbolising the close bonds of friendship and co-operation that exist between both nations.
India’s energy security is a top priority for the UAE with Adnoc being the only foreign oil and gas company, to date, to invest in India’s strategic petroleum reserves programme. Adnoc is also a stakeholder in one of India’s largest refinery and petrochemical complexes, which will be constructed at Ratnagiri in Maharashtra.
Strategic energy co-operation between the UAE and India was bolstered in March 2019, when an Indian consortium of two companies was awarded the exploration rights for an onshore block in Abu Dhabi’s debut competitive block bid round. In addition, an Indian consortium of three companies was awarded a 10 percent participating interest in Abu Dhabi’s offshore Lower Zakum concession in February 2018.
Looking at the decorations on the Adnoc building in Abu Dhabi, Navdeep Singh Suri, the Indian Ambassador to the UAE, told WAM: “Beyond the symbolism of these images is also the clear direction that the Prime Minister Modi and Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed have provided to diplomats like us to make ‘the India-UAE Comprehensive Strategic Partnership’ a truly vibrant example of what we can achieve when we work together.”
He said India-UAE relations witnessed a real transformation since Prime Minister Modi’s visit to the UAE in August 2015.
“The close friendship that has blossomed over the last four years between our Prime Minister and the Crown Prince is well-known. The whole world can see it today in this unique celebration of the re-election of the Prime Minister for a fresh five-year term,” the envoy said.
The transformed relations made an unprecedented impact in areas such as trade and investment flows, food and energy security, manpower and skills, literature and culture, defence, space and security cooperation, and growing people-to-people connections, the ambassador said.
“So, as the Prime Minister starts his second term in office, there is tremendous sense of optimism for India-UAE ties. We now have the opportunity to build upon the strong platform that we have created over the last four years, and to make the coming period a truly ‘Golden Era’ in our relationship,” the envoy added.
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