Swearing-in ceremony of a coalition government

New Delhi: The swearing-in ceremony of the coalition government had a touch of both grandeur and ordinariness. Special invitees, including politicians, corporate honchos and cine stars, and others were seen rushing towards their seats just before the start of the event, which was attended by more than 8,000 people.It was the fifth oath-taking ceremony at the Rashtrapati Bhavan forecourt and was the largest. Besides Prime Minister Narendra Modi, leaders of regional parties, including Chirag Paswan and Ram Mohan Naidu, received the loudest cheer.

Seven women, including two in the Cabinet role, were inducted into the new Council of Ministers. There were 10 women ministers in previous Council of Ministers.

Despite the presence of several regional party leaders, regional languages were missing from the ceremony as ministers took oath either in English or Hindi.

Since it was a peak summer evening, water bottles were in huge demand and white was the colour of the day, with male invitees preferring cotton and female guests opting for different shades of silk. Everyone appeared keen on clicking a selfie which disrupted the view of the main event for the audience.Minister of state from TDP, Pemmasani Chandra Sekhar, made it a point to come in front of the stage and bow in front of his party supremo N Chandrababu Naidu, who was sitting in the first row of the gathering. Individuals like Shehla Rashid, the one time student leader who was a ferocious critic of the government and is now a vocal supporter of it, were there too. She put out a post on X saying, “Honoured to join in, with prayers for the progress of the nation… #Modi3.0.”People from the transgender community as well as sanitation workers and labourers, involved in the construction of the new parliament building, were also among the invitees.