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. The 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. 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. 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.
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 Kher, Ashoke 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 that he was humbled to be a part of the “historic moment”. “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.” (IANS)
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