The who's who of business, cinema, politics and sports gathered to be witness of the return of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and formation of his new cabinet at the forecourt of the Rashtrapati Bhavan, here on Thursday.
A red carpet was laid out for the guests for the oath-taking ceremony which took place as the sun set in the national capital, where the temperature was well above 40 degrees.
Modi, who led the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) to a spectacular victory in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections was administered the oath of office and secrecy in Hindi by President Ram Nath Kovind at a ceremony attended by around 8,000 people.
Jai Hind 🙏🇮🇳 #ModiSwearingIn #ModiSarkar2 pic.twitter.com/IiPHahmJc6
— Vivek Anand Oberoi (@vivekoberoi) May 30, 2019
From the business world, there were Lakshmi Mittal, Ratan Tata, Gautam Adani, Mukesh Ambani with Nita and son Anmol, T. S. Kalyanaraman, Tata Group Chairman Natarajan Chandrasekaran, Vedanta's Founder and Chairman Anil Agarwal.
The 1983 World Cup winning team skipper Kapil Dev was also present among the guests.
Heartiest congratulations Shri @narendramodi ji on your second term as our honourable Prime Minister @PMOIndia Jai Hind! 🇮🇳 #SwearinginCeremony #ModiSarkar2
— Shreya Ghoshal (@shreyaghoshal) May 30, 2019
Spiritual master Sadhguru took a prominent seat at the event, which was also attended by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and former President Pratibha Patil, along with UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Congress President Rahul Gandhi, party leader Ghulam Nabi Azad seated prominently.
Here’s a selfie of @shahidkapoor, #MiraKapoor, #RakeyshOmPrakashMehra, #RajkumarHirani, #BoneyKapoor, #SiddharthRoyKapoor and @Abhishekapoor from PM #NarendraModi’s swearing in ceremony. pic.twitter.com/Aje30HcrzO
— Filmfare (@filmfare) May 30, 2019
Film celebrities Kangana Ranaut chose a gossamer white sari for the occasion, and veteran singer Asha Bhosle also chose an elegant cream for the event. Also present were Karan Johar, superstar Rajinikanth, besides Anupam Kher, Sushant Singh Rajput, Shahid Kapoor, Anil Kapoor, Abhishek Kapoor, Siddharth Roy Kapoor, Boney Kapoor, Madhur Bhandarkar, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, Aanand L. Rai, Omung Kumar, Rajkumar Hirani, Kapil Sharma, Kailash KherAshoke Pandit and Mahaveer Jain -- all were dressed in either formal suits or simple ethnic wear.
Rajinikanth was accompanied by his wife Latha, as was Shahid, who came with Mira.
Ahead of the event, Anil Kapoor wrote on Instagram: "Honoured to be attending one of the most important ceremonies of the year."
Filmmaker Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra told IANS that he was humbled to be a part of the "historic moment".
Film director Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra: It's a very important day for India & the people of the country. I am extremely fortunate to be a part of this ceremony. We should not have false expectation from anybody or ourselves. We should keep doing our job putting right foot forward. pic.twitter.com/TorICVCdaW
— ANI (@ANI) May 30, 2019
"The question is not what we expect from them. The question is what each Indian will do for their Motherland," he said.
Kangana, a day before reaching Delhi to be a part of the ceremony, had told the media: "There are a lot of expectations associated with him (Modi)... So all my best wishes for him that whatever goals he has set for himself, he reaches all of them."
So, that, in a nutshell, is how the new Council of Ministers looks...
— PIB India (@PIB_India) May 30, 2019
Graphics courtesy KBK#ModiSwearingIn#ModiSarkar2 #ModiCabinet pic.twitter.com/7cPbOv8g2L
To celebrate the spirit of democracy and the oath taking by PM @narendramodi for his 2nd term, the ADNOC building in #AbuDhabi lit up with images of PM Modi & Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed to show strong India UAE ties@IndembAbuDhabi @navdeepsuri#ModiSwearingIn #ModiSarkar2 pic.twitter.com/ntl3Iu541f
— Doordarshan News (@DDNewsLive) May 30, 2019
Heartiest Congratulations @smritiirani Ji 🙏🌺
— Major Surendra Poonia (@MajorPoonia) May 30, 2019
Your victory strengthened the belief of countrymen that monarchy can’t rule self respecting Indians anymore.
We are so proud of you😊💪
Jai Hind 🇮🇳#ModiSarkar2
The 25-member #ModiSarkar2 Cabinet: pic.twitter.com/XgpsUzm5FX
— Shiv Aroor (@ShivAroor) May 30, 2019
Interesting: Party & House wise allocation in the new Union Council Of Ministers.
— Rajdeep Sardesai (@sardesairajdeep) May 30, 2019
BJP – 54
SAD- 1
LJP – 1
Sena- 1
RPI (A)- 1
House wise:
Lok Sabha: 45
Rajya Sabha: 13 #ModiSarkar2
Check out how Indore is celebrating #ModiSwearingIn 😅❤️#ModiSarkar2 pic.twitter.com/pJ3RKNp3q1
— Maaya (@mohmaaya) May 30, 2019
Prime Minister @narendramodi takes Oath of Office and Secrecy for second consecutive term #ModiSwearingIn #ModiSarkar2 #SwearinginCeremonyOnDDNews pic.twitter.com/Slm4rH6VGe
— Doordarshan News (@DDNewsLive) May 30, 2019
As ADNOC building in #AbuDhabi lights up with images of tricolour & firm handshake of Crown Prince & PM Modi after swearing in, Ambassador @navdeepsuri says India UAE ties on the upsurge;Will herald an era of unprecedented phase of growth in relationship between the two countries pic.twitter.com/98dBdXXW5J
— Doordarshan News (@DDNewsLive) May 30, 2019
#PresidentKovind administering the oath as Cabinet Minister to @HarsimratBadal_ at a Swearing-in Ceremony, at Rashtrapati Bhavan, in New Delhi pic.twitter.com/A1C15ETSk8
— PIB India (@PIB_India) May 30, 2019
#PresidentKovind administering the oath as Cabinet Minister to @PiyushGoyal at a Swearing-in Ceremony, at Rashtrapati Bhavan, in New Delhi#ModiSwearingIn #ModiCabinet2 #SwearinginCeremony pic.twitter.com/760Umsce5E
— PIB India (@PIB_India) May 30, 2019
#PresidentKovind administering the oath as Cabinet Minister to @rsprasad at a Swearing-in Ceremony, at Rashtrapati Bhavan, in New Delhi#ModiSwearingIn #ModiCabinet2 #SwearinginCeremony pic.twitter.com/LNOafHQT68
— PIB India (@PIB_India) May 30, 2019
#PresidentKovind administering the oath as Cabinet Minister to @nsitharaman, at a Swearing-in Ceremony, at Rashtrapati Bhavan, in New Delhi#ModiSwearingIn #ModiCabinet2 #SwearinginCeremony pic.twitter.com/0rMcZnrn4p
— PIB India (@PIB_India) May 30, 2019
#PresidentKovind administering the oath as Cabinet Minister to @DVSBJP, at a Swearing-in Ceremony, at Rashtrapati Bhavan, in New Delhi#ModiSwearingIn #ModiCabinet2 #SwearinginCeremony pic.twitter.com/Juqk3H76N3
— PIB India (@PIB_India) May 30, 2019
#PresidentKovind administering the oath as Cabinet Minister to @nitin_gadkari at a Swearing-in Ceremony, at Rashtrapati Bhavan, in New Delhi #ModiSwearingIn #ModiCabinet2 #SwearinginCeremony pic.twitter.com/F7roavr3g8
— PIB India (@PIB_India) May 30, 2019
#PresidentKovind administering the oath as Cabinet Minister to @AmitShah at a Swearing-in Ceremony, at Rashtrapati Bhavan, in New Delhi #ModiSwearingIn #ModiCabinet2 #SwearinginCeremony pic.twitter.com/9P0VAPKr6I
— PIB India (@PIB_India) May 30, 2019
#PresidentKovind administering the oath as Cabinet Minister to @rajnathsingh at a Swearing-in Ceremony, at Rashtrapati Bhavan, in New Delhi#ModiSwearingIn #ModiCabinet2 #SwearinginCeremony pic.twitter.com/g3n4twhHQk
— PIB India (@PIB_India) May 30, 2019
#PresidentKovind greets PM @narendramodi after administering the oath of office of the Prime Minister, at a #SwearinginCeremony, at Rashtrapati Bhavan, in New Delhi #ModiSarkar2 #ModiSwearingIn pic.twitter.com/Tax4MVpnCR
— PIB India (@PIB_India) May 30, 2019
Here’s the full list of the new council of ministers who took along with PM Modi
Cabinet ministers
Rajnath Singh
Amit Shah
Nitin Gadkari
Sadananda Gowda
Nirmala Sitharaman
Ram Vilas Paswan
Narendra Singh Tomar
Ravi Shankar Prasad
Harsimarat Kaur Badal
Thaawarchand Gehlot
S Jaishankar
Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank
Arjun Munda
Smriti Irani
Harsh Vardhan
Prakash Javadekar
Piyush Goel
Dharmendra Pradhan
Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi
Prahlad Joshi
Mahendra Nath Pandey
Arvind Sawant
Giriraj Singh
Gajendra Singh Shekhawat
Ministers of state with independent charge
Santosh Kumar Gangwar
Rao Inderjit Singh
Shripad Yesso Naik
Dr Jitendra Singh
RK Singh
Kiren Rijiju
Prahlad Singh Patel
Hardeep Singh Puri
Mansukh Mandaviya
Ministers of state
Faggansingh Kulaste
Ashwini Kumar Choubey
Arjun Ram Meghwal
V. K. Singh
Krishan Pal
Danve Raosaheb Dadarao
G. Kishan Reddy
Parshottam Rupala
Ramdas Athawale
Niranjan Jyoti
Babul Supriyo
Sanjeev Kumar Balyan
Dhotre Sanjay Shamrao
Anurag Singh Thakur
Angadi Suresh Channabasappa
Nityanand Rai
Rattan Lal Kataria
V. Muraleedharan
Renuka Singh Saruta
Som Parkash
Rameswar Teli
Pratap Chandra Sarangi
Kailash Choudhary
Debasree Chaudhuri
Prime Minister Narendra Modi pressed the refresh button and inducted 20 new faces in his council of ministers rewarding giant killers in the Lok Sabha election and dropping some of the most visible faces of his team -- finance minister Arun Jaitley, external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj and commerce minister Suresh Prabhu.
While Jaitley's omission had become public on Wednesday as he opted out on health grounds, the absence of Sushma and Prabhu came as a surprise.
A bigger surprise, however, was the inclusion of former foreign secretary S. Jaishankar into the cabinet.
In the last five years, despite serious ailment, Sushma had won accolades for turning foreign office into people's ministry and Suresh Prabhu was seen as the "to go" man handling key ministries including railways.
The tallest among the first-time ministers is party president Amit Shah who was seated third in the row of seniority after the PM and Rajnath Singh. He was followed by Nitin Gadkari and Sadanand Gowda.
The first indication of Amit Shah's progression into the government had come when he decided to contest Lok Sabha elections from Gandhinagar. After scripting historic victory for the BJP in the election, he was seen as a natural claimant for a prominent position.
The Modi-Shah team will now be in play in the government after scoring a series of electoral wins.
Those who fought valiantly in the election were rewarded even if they were first-time MPs.
First-time MP from Secunderabad G Krishan Reddy was awarded with MoS berth. Kailash Choudhary, a young BJP leader who fought a tough battle in Barmer against Madhavendra Singh of the Congress (formerly with BJP), was a rewarded with MoS rank.
Debashree Choudhary, who won from Raiganj in West Bengal in a tough fight, is now a minister.
Pratap Chandra Sarangi, first-time MP from Balasore in Odisha, got the maximum cheers as he is already known on the internet for his humble lifestyle, has been made a minister.
Even among allies, Arvind Sawant of Shiv Sena who defeated Milind Deora of Congress in South Mumbai, has joined the cabinet.
Some promiment names like Rajyavardhan Rathore, Jayant Sinha and Maneka Gandhi have been dropped.
