New Delhi: Although there is no word on the President of India, Droupadi Murmu, inviting anyone to form the Union government and the date of the swearing-in ceremony for the new government has not been officially announced, signed invitations from Prime Minister Narendra Modi have already been sent to foreign leaders, inviting them to attend the ceremony on the evening of June 9.
The Wire has learned from foreign diplomatic sources that letters, dated June 6, signed by Modi, currently a caretaker prime minister, and on his official letterhead were conveyed to the leaders of the six foreign leaders from the neighbourhood.
As per sources, the invitation refers to the National Democratic Alliance or NDA receiving a strong mandate for a “historic third consecutive term” from the Indian people in the general elections.
According to results declared by the Election Commission, there is no party that has crossed the halfway mark. The BJP is down by 63 seats from 2019 and is 32 seats below the required 272 seats for a simple majority. Next steps involve the President of India exploring all possibilities in congruence with the new mandate and inviting a party or the largest coalition to form the government.
The BJP parliamentary party, the single-largest party in the Lok Sabha, is yet to elect its leader. Modi and a few leaders from the BJP hurriedly held an NDA meeting after which a note in Hindi was issued saying constituents had endorsed Modi’s name as PM.
The letter, signed by Modi and written in the first person, states that he will take the oath of office administered by President Murmu on the evening of June 9. While no specific time was mentioned, he indicated that the ceremony would take place at Rashtrapati Bhawan.
In the letter, he also refers to India’s ‘Neighbourhood first’ policy and close ties. With some of the older hands in South Asia, Modi also mentions that they have a personal friendship.
The letter has been sent out to six foreign leaders: Bhutan King Jigme Sigme Wangchuk, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu, Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe, Nepal Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Mauritius Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth.
According to sources, the ceremony is likely to take place around 7:20 pm on June 9. However, other sources indicate that the exact date and time have not yet been fixed in stone, as negotiations with allies over ministerial portfolios are still ongoing and the BJP’s own parliamentary meeting has yet to be held. The negotiations are critical as for the first time the Modi-led BJP is depending on allies for crossing over the 272 majority mark in parliament. The opposition INDIA alliance made a surprisingly strong showing, especially in the most populous state of Uttar Pradesh.
The formal invitation to the foreign leaders followed Modi’s verbal invite during their congratulatory phone calls.
The presence of foreign leaders has been a consistent leitmotif at his swearing-in ceremonies, both in 2014 and 2019. The first ceremony focused on SAARC leaders, but as the grouping fell out of favour in New Delhi, BIMSTEC leaders were invited to the 2019 event.
For Modi, foreign policy has been a major campaign tool, claiming that increased India’s stature on the world stage. It is, therefore, not surprising that he has worked more quickly to ensure that foreign leaders would attend the swearing-in ceremony, even though it has not been officially announced yet.
It is also understood that guests based in India, especially embassies, have not yet received any formal written invitation.
Over the last two days, there had been a lot of speculation about the date and timing of the swearing in ceremony. Media house had at first, citing “sources”, said that June 8 would be the oath-taking ceremony, but then the speculation shifted to June 9 after 24 hours.
The Bangladeshi news agency BSS had first reported on Thursday morning, quoting the Bangladesh PM’s speech writer, that she would be arriving in Delhi on Friday and return back to Dhaka next day after the ceremony.
Later in the day, BSS revised its article to say that Hasina would travel on June 8 (Saturday) and return to Dhaka on June 10 (Monday) afternoon.
Among the invitees, the most interesting is the invitation reportedly extended to President Muizzu, which would take place just a month after India withdrew after all its soldiers operating three aircraft in Maldives on the demand of the Maldivian government. India fully replaced all the crew with civilian technicians from a public sector company on May 10.
The withdrawal of Indian military personnel was a key campaign promise in Muizzu’s successful bid to prevent the re-election of President Ibrahim Solih, who was perceived as more friendly towards India.
