{"id":215926,"date":"2019-05-26T04:27:55","date_gmt":"2019-05-26T08:27:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=215926"},"modified":"2019-05-26T04:27:55","modified_gmt":"2019-05-26T08:27:55","slug":"indias-president-appoints-modi-as-premier-for-2nd-term","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2019\/05\/26\/indias-president-appoints-modi-as-premier-for-2nd-term\/","title":{"rendered":"India&#8217;s president appoints Modi as premier for 2nd term"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_215700\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-215700\" style=\"width: 653px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/61243051_10161856238920165_5463212427875188736_n.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-215700\" src=\"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/61243051_10161856238920165_5463212427875188736_n.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"653\" height=\"960\" srcset=\"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/61243051_10161856238920165_5463212427875188736_n.jpg 653w, https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/61243051_10161856238920165_5463212427875188736_n-204x300.jpg 204w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 653px) 100vw, 653px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-215700\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Modi effectively used the incident as a major campaign tool after responding to the attack with an airstrike in Pakistan that triggered nationalist sentiments, with the BJP saying Modi is the right person to ensure\u00a0India&#8217;s national security. (File <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/narendramodi\/photos\/a.10150164299700165\/10161856238910165\/?type=3&amp;theater\">Photo<\/a>: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/narendramodi\/\">Narendra\u00a0Modi\/Facebook<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>NEW DELHI \u2014 India&#8217;s president on Saturday appointed Narendra Modi as the prime minister, soon after newly elected lawmakers led by Modi&#8217;s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party chose him as their leader following a thunderous victory in national elections.<\/p>\n<p>President Ram Nath Kovind said in a tweet that he also asked Modi to forward the names of those to be appointed as ministers in his government, and the date for swearing-in for his second five-year term as prime minister. Modi and some leaders of his alliance met the president earlier on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p>Media reports said that Modi is likely to be sworn in by Kovind on Thursday.<\/p>\n<p>Critics say Modi and his party have applied divisive policies and used a Hindu-first strategy. But Modi said after Saturday&#8217;s vote that \u201cthis election has become a movement of social unity.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is generally said that the election divides, creates distances, makes walls. But the 2019 elections have worked to break the walls,\u201d he said in his address.<\/p>\n<p>BJP President Amit Shah announced Modi&#8217;s name as the leader of the National Democratic Alliance in a meeting of the lawmakers in the Central Hall of Parliament in New Delhi.<\/p>\n<p>The Election Commission announced that the BJP won 303 out of 542 seats in the Lok Sabha, the lower house of Parliament, after the official vote count from the 6-week-long election was completed on Friday. That is well beyond the simple majority a party in India needs to form a government.<\/p>\n<p>The BJP&#8217;s top rival, the Indian National Congress led by Rahul Gandhi, won 52 seats, and the All India Trinamool Congress led by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee won 22.<\/p>\n<p>Gandhi, whose great-grandfather, grandmother and father were all prime ministers, personally conceded his seat, long a Congress party bastion, to his BJP rival, India&#8217;s textiles minister, marking the end of an era for modern India&#8217;s most powerful political dynasty.<\/p>\n<p>The BJP&#8217;s victory was largely seen as a referendum on Modi&#8217;s Hindu nationalist politics that some observers say have bred intolerance toward Muslims and other religious minorities. Modi also took a muscular stance on neighbouring Pakistan, with whom India nearly went to war earlier this year after a suicide attack killed more than 40 Indian troops in Indian-controlled Kashmir.<\/p>\n<p>Modi effectively used the incident as a major campaign tool after responding to the attack with an airstrike in Pakistan that triggered nationalist sentiments, with the BJP saying Modi is the right person to ensure\u00a0India&#8217;s national security.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>NEW DELHI \u2014 India&#8217;s president on Saturday appointed Narendra Modi as the prime minister, soon after newly elected lawmakers led &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":215701,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-215926","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-w","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215926","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=215926"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215926\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":215927,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215926\/revisions\/215927"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/215701"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=215926"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=215926"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=215926"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}