The TMC MP demanded that the BJP should elect a new leader and “replace Prime Minister Narendra Modi” since he could not get a majority in the Lok Sabha elections, despite the election being centred entirely around him.
“To all those celebrating the “swearing-in” of @narendramodi, a message from India’s only woman chief minister @MamataOfficial. She switched off all her lights and sat in darkness during the entire so-called “ceremony” for a “prime minister” who has resoundingly lost the mandate and has been rejected by the people,” she posted on X.
“‘Almost lost in Varanasi, lost in Ayodhya, could not get a majority in spite of a campaign centred entirely on himself. Modi should be replaced. Let the @BJP4India elect a fresh leader,” she said.
Matama Banerjee’s TMC had skipped Sunday’s oath-taking ceremony, where Narendra Modi was sworn in as the Prime Minister, equalling Jawaharlal Nehru’s record of three straight terms in the top office.
While the opposition leaders boycotted the oath-taking ceremony, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge attended the event.
With 72 members including him, Modi’s latest team is bigger than the previous two, and, contrary to speculation, he had little difficulty in putting together the council of ministers despite leading a coalition govt. TDP and JD (U), in particular, chose not to haggle, as was generally expected after voters denied BJP an absolute majority.
Top leaders from India’s neighbourhood and the Indian Ocean region — Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu, Bangladesh Premier Sheikh Hasina, Nepal Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’, Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe, Mauritius Prime Minister Pravind Kumar Jugnauth, Bhutanese PM Tshering Tobgay and Vice-President of Seychelles Ahmed Afif — were special guests at the function.
In addition to political leaders and eminent persons from different walks of life, members from the transgender community as well as sanitation workers and labourers, who were involved in the construction of the new parliament building, also attended the swearing-in ceremony of Modi and the new council of ministers.
Nearly 9,000 people were estimated to be present at the forecourts of the Rashtrapati Bhavan to witness the swearing-in ceremony.