Modi to take oath as PM Monday

Hindu nationalist Narendra Modi, the prime ministerial candidate for India's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), bows down in respect at the steps of the parliament house upon his arrival to attend the BJP parliamentary party meeting in New Delhi on Tuesday. Photo: Reuters

Hindu nationalist leader Narendra Modi, who led his Bharatiya Janata Party to a decisive victory in parliamentary elections, will be sworn in as Prime Minister of India at a function in Delhi on May 26.

Armed with the support of 336 lawmakers of his party and its allies, Modi, 63, met President Pranab Mukherjee at the Rashtrapati Bhavan who appointed him as the Prime Minister.

Emerging from the meeting with Mukherjee, Modi told waiting media in the forecourt of Rashtrapati Bhavan perched on the Raisina Hills that the “the President has appointed me as PM by law and the swearing-in will take place at the same place on May 26 at 6 pm (Indian time).

At the Rashtrapati Bhavan, the President and Modi exchanged bouquets and Mukherjee congratulated him for his and his party’s grand election victory.                

At the emotionally-charged meeting of BJP parliamentary party,  Modi, 63, the son of a tea vendor at a railway station, broke down while delivering the acceptance speech after his election as the leader of the parliamentary party.        

Modi’s name was proposed ironically by party patriarch L K Advani, 86, who had opposed his elevation to prime ministerial candidate last year, and seconded by other leaders including Murli Manohar Joshi, M Venkaiah Naidu, Nitin Gadkari, Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley.          

"I propose the name of popular and famous Gujarat Chief Minister Narendrabhai Modi as the Prime Minister of India. I invite Narendra Modi for doing the kripa (kindness) of letting me witness an unforgettable moment in our history," said Advani, a former Deputy Prime Minister.          

In his acceptance speech, Modi struggled to hold back tears as he thanked BJP after being endorsed as the country's next Prime Minister.

Modi With Tears in his Eyes at Central hall of Parliament: http://t.co/ckzN4ZQpvc via @YouTube

— tv5news (@tv5newsnow) May 20, 2014

“The party is my mother, it has done me the favour of giving me a chance to serve it," he said with his voice again choked with emotion while addressing a large audience of newly-elected BJP MPs.

"You see Modi not because Modi's stature is large. You See Modi because party elders hoisted me on their shoulders", said Modi adding “none is above the party and none is bigger than the party”.

Modi's half-an-hour speech in the historic central hall of Parliament also began on an emotional note when he recalled that had Atal Bihari Vajpayee been well, “his presence would have completed this moment," said he his voice catching.

In a gracious gesture typical of a victor, Modi appreciated “whatever good work” the previous Congress-led UPA government, voted out of power, had done during its ten-year tenure from May, 2004. 

 “I don’t believe that the UPA government did nothing. They did whatever they could and they deserve appreciation for whatever good they did”, said Modi. The election result has increased people’s faith in democracy, said Modi.

Ours will be a Govt. that thinks, works & lives for the poor. This will be a Govt. dedicated to the villages, youth & women of India.

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 20, 2014

BJP won absolute majority in the parliamentary polls securing on its own 282 seats in the 545-member Lok Sabha, becoming the first non-Congress party since independence to get a majority on its own.

Modi, however, said “I am not doing any favour (by becoming PM) and am only performing a duty. This victory is a result of struggle of five generations”.

At the separate meeting of parliamentarians of BJP and its allies, Modi made it clear that although his party got majority on its own, it would like to run the government by including all allies.

“For BJP, its allies are as important today as they would have been had our party not got majority on its own”, he said.

Modi said there was no need for pessimism going by the bad experience of the past. 

“I am a very optimistic man and only optimistic man can bring optimism in the country. There is a new hope among people that this dispensation can fulfil their aspirations”, he said adding he will work for country and not post.