President Droupadi Murmu administered the oath of office to Modi at a grand ceremony at the president\u2019s palace
\n NEW DELHI
\nNarendra Modi was sworn in as India\u2019s prime minister on Sunday for a record-equalling third term, but as a restive coalition\u2019s head after a shock poll setback that will test his ability to ensure policy certainty in the world\u2019s most populous nation.
\nPresident Droupadi Murmu administered the oath of office to Modi at a grand ceremony at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, the president\u2019s palace in New Delhi, attended by thousands of dignitaries, including the leaders of seven regional countries, Bollywood stars and industrialists.
\nModi, who started as a publicist of the Hindu nationalist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the ideological parent of his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), is only the second person after independence leader Jawaharlal Nehru to serve a third straight term as prime minister.
\nModi, 73, secured the third term in elections that concluded on June 1 with the support of 14 regional parties in his BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), unlike in the previous two terms when his party won an outright majority.
\nThe outcome is seen as a big setback to the popular leader as surveys and exit polls had predicted BJP would secure even more seats than in 2019.
\nModi delivered world-beating growth and lifted India\u2019s global standing but appeared to have missed a step at home as a lack of enough jobs, high prices, low incomes and religious faultlines pushed voters to rein him in.
\nWhen Modi was the chief minister of the western state of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014, BJP enjoyed strong majorities, allowing him to govern decisively.
\nModi\u2019s new term as prime minister, therefore, is likely to be fraught with challenges on building consensus on contentious political and policy issues in the face of different interests of regional parties and a stronger opposition, analysts say.
\nSome analysts worry that the fiscal balance in the world\u2019s fastest-growing economy could also come under pressure due to demands for higher development funds for states ruled by the NDA\u2019s regional partners and a possible push by BJP to spend more on welfare to woo back voters it lost in this year\u2019s election.
\nModi, whose election campaign was marked by religious rhetoric and criticism of the opposition for allegedly favouring India\u2019s 200 million minority Muslims, has adopted a more conciliatory tone since the shock result.
\n\u201cWe have won the majority … but to run the country it is unanimity that is crucial … we will strive for unanimity,\u201d he said on Friday after the NDA formally named him coalition head.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
President Droupadi Murmu administered the oath of office to Modi at a grand ceremony at the president\u2019s palace NEW DELHI Narendra Modi was sworn in as India\u2019s prime minister on Sunday for a record-equalling third term, but as a restive coalition\u2019s head after a shock poll setback that will test his ability to ensure policy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":411945,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-411925","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n