NEW DELHI: Hindu-nationalist leader Narendra Modi was sworn in as India’s prime minister on Sunday for a record-equating third term but as a restive political alliance’s head after a shock poll setback that will test his ability to ensure policy certainty in the world’s most populous nation.
Indian President Droupadi Murmu administered the oath of office to Narendra Modi at a grand ceremony at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, the president’s palace in New Delhi. The oath-taking ceremony was attended by thousands of dignitaries, including Bollywood stars and industrialists.
Modi, who started as a publicist of the Hindu-nationalist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the ideological parent of his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), is only the second person after independence leader Jawaharlal Nehru to serve a third straight term as prime minister.
Modi, 73, secured the third term in elections that concluded on June 1 with the support of 14 regional parties in his BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), unlike in the previous two terms when his party won an outright majority.
The outcome is seen as a big setback to the popular leader as surveys and exit polls had predicted that BJP would secure even more seats than in 2019.
Modi appeared to have missed a step at home as a lack of enough jobs, high prices, low incomes and religious faultlines pushed voters to rein him in.
Modi’s new term as prime minister, therefore, is likely to be fraught with challenges on building consensus on contentious political and policy issues in the face of different interests of regional parties and a stronger opposition, analysts say.
Some analysts worry that the fiscal balance in the country could also come under pressure due to demands for higher development funds for states ruled by the NDA’s regional partners and a possible push by the BJP to spend more on welfare to woo back voters it lost in this year’s election.
Modi, whose election campaign was marked by religious rhetoric and criticism of the opposition for allegedly favouring India’s 200 million minority Muslims, has adopted a more conciliatory tone since the shock result.
