(Image source from: The who's who at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's swearing-in ceremony})

As the silken hue of dusk flooded the forecourt of the spectacular Rashtrapati Bhavan on Monday evening, Narendra Damodardas Modi took his oath as the15th Prime Minister of India.

Leaders from the neighboring states, ex-presidents and premiers, corporate honchos and Bollywood stars stood witness to the historic event that marked a new dawn in Indian politics.

Dressed in a pastel sleeveless jacket and full-sleeved off-white kurta, Modi read his oath of office and secrecy in Hindi followed by his 45-member Council of Ministers, according to seniority.

 

Rajnath Singh was the second minister to be sworn in, followed by Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley and M. Venkaiah Naidu, the top core members of Team Modi.

Key allies Ram Vilas Paswan of the Lok Janshakti Party, Ashok Gajapati Raju of the Telugu Desam Party, Shiromani Akali Dal's Harsimrat Kaur, and Shiv Sena's Anant Geete were also included in the Council of Ministers.

Party hard-workers like Ravi Shankar Prasad, Smriti Irani and Prakash Javadekar were well-rewarded with Cabinet berths.

Old guards of BJP — L.K. Advani nor Murli Manohar Joshi — however, were given no berths under the new saffron sun.

Arun Jaitley will head the legal brigade alongwith Ravi Shankar Prasad and Nirmala Sitharaman.

Forming the strongest government in 30 years, Modi's swearing-in ceremony reflected the might of his numbers. The Cabinet, however, lacked surprises.

The congregation in the forecourt was a conflation of contradictions. From Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to outgoing PM of India, and from Manmohan Singh, Afghan president Hamid Karzai to Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa, the crowd was anything, but boring.

 

Shiv Sena leaders howed up in full strength led by chief Uddhav Thackeray. So did the RSS functionaries. However, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat was conspicuous in his absence.

The front row also had a sprinkling of saffron as religious leaders, including Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Morari Bapu, Jagadguru Rambhadracharya, and Sadhvi Rithambara who attended the evnt.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi, vice-president Rahul Gandhi and many members of the outgoing government, including P. Chidambaram were part of the gathering.

Corporate biggies and mega-industrialists including Ambani brothers made it to the do along with with their families.

Other big-wigs in attendance were Gautam Adani, Kumar Mangalam Birla, Shashi Ruia and V.N. Dhoot.

AW: Suchorita Choudhury