Modi to be sworn in as India’s new PM

NEW DELHI, India (UPDATED) – Narendra Modi will be sworn in as India’s prime minister Monday, with the pro-business leader already signalling bold intentions by slashing the size of the cabinet and welcoming his Pakistani counterpart to the ceremony.

 

After a decade of left-leaning Congress party rule, the 63-year-old Hindu nationalist is set to steer India firmly to the right in the next five years, armed with a powerful mandate after a landslide election victory.

 

Modi, leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), paid a visit to the memorial of India’s independence hero Mahatma Gandhi early Monday, before then stopping to meet Atal Bihari Vajpayee, his party’s only previous premier, who is confined to his home at the age of 89.

 

Modi’s new cabinet was expected to be announced ahead of his inauguration at 6:00pm (1230 GMT) and Modi indicated in a statement late Sunday that the number of ministries would be sharply reduced.

 

“Keeping our commitment to ‘Minimum Government, Maximum Governance’ we have made an unprecedented & positive change in Ministry formation,” he also said on his official Twitter feed.

 

Modi, son of a tea-stall owner, secured the biggest majority in 30 years at the election, trouncing the scandal-plagued Congress on a promise of reviving manufacturing and investment to create millions of jobs.

 

His pledge to overhaul the flagging economy won over voters, along with his rags-to-riches story and reputation as a clean and efficient chief minister of prosperous western Gujarat state.

 

Critics claimed the 63-year-old would favour the Hindu majority at the expense of the country’s 150 million Muslims and other religious minorities, but the warnings failed to dent his rise.

 

Many Muslims remain deeply suspicious of Modi, who is tainted by communal riots in Gujarat in 2002 that killed more than 1,000 people, mostly Muslims. He has denied he failed to stop the bloodshed and a court investigation found he had no case to answer.

 

The invitation to Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was seen as a significant olive branch to India’s Muslim neighbour and it marks the first time that a leader from either country has attended his counterpart’s inauguration since independence in 1947.

 

Sharif, who has hailed Modi’s “impressive victory”, accepted the invite which was extended to all heads of government from the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) which includes Pakistan.

 

He arrived late morning on Monday, smiling and waving to television cameras at the airport.

 

Reason for optimism

 

Ordinary Indians and business leaders have sky-high hopes that Modi will deliver decisive and graft-free government in a chaotic and still poor country that is home to a sixth of humanity.

 

“The country needs to be steered in the right direction now and only Modi can do it. He’s got a strict school headmaster quality about him,” Kavita Lal, a 32-year-old IT professional, told the Agence France-Presse as she took the New Delhi metro on Monday.

 

Like many, she mocked the prime ministership of outgoing 81-year-old Manmohan Singh who rarely spoke to the media during 10 years in power and was widely seen as lacking authority.

 

“It just seemed like for the last 10 years we had no leader in the country,” she said.

 

With the economy growing at under five percent, analysts warn bold reforms are needed with investors already anticipating change, sending the Bombay Stock Exchange to record levels.

 

Modi and his cabinet will be sworn in at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, the president’s palace, in New Delhi amid tight security in a ceremony with at least 3,000 guests, according to local media.

 

Since elections results on May 16, which showed the BJP with the first parliamentary majority by a single party since 1984, Modi has been at pains to put his divisive past behind him and appear inclusive.

 

In a rare sign of emotion last week, he choked back tears as he promised to try to live up to the expectations of all Indians including “our weakest and poorest” during a speech in parliament.

 

Along with Sharif, other national leaders attending include Afghanistan’s outgoing President Hamid Karzai, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse and Nepal Prime Minister Sushil Koirala.

 

Modi will hold bilateral talks with Sharif on Tuesday with hopes the two can thaw ties.

 

India and Pakistan have fought three wars since independence in 1947 and bilateral ties broke down after the 2008 attacks by Pakistani gunmen on Mumbai in which 166 people were killed.

 

Sharif has cited his working relationship with Vajpayee in the late 1990s as a reason for optimism, according to diplomatic sources. – Rappler.com