Modi promises inclusion ahead of second term as Prime Minister
Modi calls on President Kovind and stakes claim to form next govt DPA
NARENDRA Modi, one of India’s most polarizing politicians, talked of inclusion and trust on Saturday after a thumping victory in general elections set him up as prime minister for a second term.
“We will work for those who believe in us and for those whose belief we have to win,” Modi told a large gathering of lawmakers from his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies in the central hall of parliament.
The BJP powered to victory in India’s general elections with a decisive majority of 303 of the 542 seats in parliament. The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance won 353 seats.
The BJP election campaign focused largely on Hindu nationalism and populist policies.
“Whatever religious rituals we follow at home, when we walk out we are only devotees of Mother India,” Modi said.
As Modi prepared to take his oath as prime minister next week, opposition parties across the country were taking stock of their stunning defeat. The party won 52 seats in the elections.
Modi called on President Ram Nath Kovind and staked his claim to form the next government. Exercising powers vested in him under Article 75 (1) of the Constitution of India, the President appointed Modi to the office of Prime Minister. Sources indicated that the swearing-in ceremony is likely to take place on May 30 but an official confirmation is awaited.
“President today gave me a letter designating me as the Prime Minister. The country has given me a huge mandate and the mandate comes with the expectations of the people,” Modi said after meeting Kovind.
Earlier, an NDA delegation, led by Amit Shah and comprising
Prakash Singh Badal, Rajnath Singh, Nitish Kumar, Ram Vilas Paswan, Sushma Swaraj, Uddhav Thackeray, Nitin Gadkari, K Palaniswami, Conrad Sangma and Neiphiu Rio, called on the President and submitted to him a letter stating that Narendra Modi had been elected leader of the BJP Parliamentary Party.
Before reaching the Rashtrapati Bhavan, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) elected Modi as their leader at the parliamentary board meeting after the BJP’s historic win in the Lok Sabha elections. In his over 75-minute address after being elected the leader of the NDA, Modi stressed on the need to win over the trust of minorities, spoke extensively on the BJP’s second consecutive victory, proincumbency, the Lok Sabha
elections, and also cautioned the newly-elected members against taking favours.
He invoked the spirit of the 1857 freedom struggle, saying all communities had then joined hands for independence and a similar movement should be started for good governance now.
Urging the newly-elected MPs to work without any discrimination, Modi said that minorities, in the past, have been “deceived and made to live in fear by those who believed in vote-bank politics.”
In his attack at the opposition, Modi said that instead of fear-mongering, education and health of the minorities should have been the concern of political leaders.