Narendra Modi sworn in as Indian prime minister, heralding change

Source: LA Times

Narendra Modi was sworn in Monday as India's 15th prime minister, offering a new, more conservative government to a country thirsty for economic change.

The ceremony at the presidential palace in New Delhi was notable for the presence of Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who reportedly ignored warnings from his own intelligence agency to attend. Relations have been tense between the two nuclear-armed rivals.
India's Narendra Modi and Pakistan's Nawaz Sharif
Newly sworn-in Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, left, shakes hands with Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif after Moti's swearing-in ceremony in New Delhi on Monday. (Prakash Singh / AFP/Getty Images)

President Pranab Mukherjee administered the oath to Modi and his cabinet ministers. "I, Narendra Damodardas Modi, swear in the name of God that I will maintain the integrity of India," Modi said in Hindi. "I will work without fear, anger or hatred and will do justice to all as per the constitution."

Modi, 63, who had been chief executive of the western state of Gujarat, led the Bharatiya Janata Party to victory in India's parliamentary elections earlier this month, ousting the long-ruling Congress Party led by Rahul Gandhi, former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s grandson.


Read more: http://www.latimes.com/world/asia/la-fg-narendra-modi-sworn-in-india-20140526-story.html