NARENDRA Modi Headed 11nd NDA Govt Takes Oath With Amit Shah & Some Other New faces: Shiv Sena, SAD, Other Allies Accommodated As JDU Miffed For Allotting only 1 Cabinet Berth: Most of the Old Guards Continue

IN the Presence of  about 8,000 foreign  and domestic dignitaries  and watched and cheered by  millions of people on TV , Narendra Damodardas Modi, 68, from a poorest of poor  Gujarati family, on Thursday, May 30, commenced his second innings as Prime Minister of  India. Described as a record swearing-in ceremony  held since Independence , he was administered oath and secrecy of office with his ministerial colleagues by President Ram Nath Kovind at the historic  Rashtrapati Bhawan on Delhi’s  Raisina Hills.A galaxy of leaders from BIMSTEC countries along with the kin of the BJP activists who were martyred in West Bengal, eminent sports and film personalities, diplomats, leaders of several NDA and non-NDA parties including Chief Ministers  watched  President Ram Nath Kovind administer the oath of office and secrecy to Modi and his ministerial colleagues at the forecourt of  the majestic Rashtrapati Bhavan.  It was the second time he took the oath at the forecourt of Rashtrapati Bhavan. Modi was sworn in by the then President Pranab Mukherjee in 2014 in the presence of over 3,500 guests including the heads of SAARC countries. Earlier, Chandra Shekhar in 1990 and Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 1999 were sworn in at the sprawling forecourt. Ahead of swearing-in ceremony, he paid homage to Father of The nation, Mahatma Gandhi at Rajghat, first NDA PM Atal Behari Vajpayee and visited the National War Memorial in Delhi to pay tribute to the jawans who laid down their lives for the country post-independence. Outgoing Defence Minister and BJP leader Nirmala Sitharaman also accompanied Modi along with Army Chief General Bipin Rawat, Navy Chief Admiral Sunil Lanba and Vice Chief of Air Force Air Marshal RKS Bhadauria.  Modi had reached out to Dhaka headquartered Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation member-states .They were represented at the gala function. Among them were Bangladesh President Mohammed Abdul Hamid, Prime Minister Pravind Kumar Jugnauth ,Sri Lankan President Maithripala Srisena, Prime Minister of Nepal K P Sharma Oli, President of Myanmar U Win Myint and Bhutanese Prime Minister Lotay Tshering, Thailand deputed its  Special Envoy Grisada Boonrach. Kyrgyz President Jeenbekov, current chair of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, also attended the historic function.The BJP, which won 282 seats in 2014, improved its tally by bagging 303 seats. Along with its NDA allies, the number swelled to 353 in the 543-member Lok Sabha India’s Lower House of Parliament.  Meanwhile, West Bengal Chief Minister and ruling TMC supremo, who had first accepted the invite to be part of the ceremony, stayed away protesting against participation of the kin of the slain BJP activists   martyred for the cause of the party in the eastern state. There was no political murder in the state, she said in a letter to PM. As one of the Trinamool Congress’s Muslim faces Monirul Islam, sitting Labpur MLA of Birbhum district, and some other TMC activists joined BJP in Delhi, the 54 special invitees landed at Delhi from Howrah by Rajdhani Express for the event scheduled  at 7 pm IST on Thursday, May 30.  Mamata Banerjee launched dharna at Naihati for the safety and security of her party workers as reports pouring in on post election clashes from various parts of West Bengal. Delhi Pradesh BJP President Manoj Tiwari, MP, says Mamata Banerjee has disgraced democracy. The way she perpetrated violence in a democracy… and after killing 54 BJP workers, with what face will she attend the PM Modi’s oath taking celebration? She won’t be able to see eye-to-eye with those present. She is ashamed and cannot face the people, “the Bhojpuri actor-singer turned Lok Sabha Member from Delhi said .Going back on her initial decision, Banerjee on Wednesday declined to attend Modi’s swearing-in ceremony objecting to the families of BJP workers, allegedly killed in political violence in the state, being invited to the function (edited  by Pranab Kumar Chakravarty with inputs from sources).