Nepal’s Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ departed for India on Sunday afternoon for a two-day visit. He flew to New Delhi to attend the swearing-in ceremony of his Indian counterpart, Narendra Modi, scheduled for this evening.
The PM Modi-led NDA (National Democratic Alliance) secured a historic third term in power following the announcement of the results of the parliamentary elections.
At the invitation of PM Modi, Dahal left for India from the VVIP terminal of the Tribhuvan International Airport. His accompanying delegation included his daughter Ganga Dahal, Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Padam Giri, Foreign Secretary Sewa Lamsal, Head of South Asia Division at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Bhrigu Dhungana, Chief of Protocol Bishnu Prasad Gautam, Protocol Officer Prabin Bhattarai, and three security personnel of the prime minister, according to a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Dahal is among the distinguished guests invited to attend the grand swearing-in ceremony of PM Modi at Rashtrapati Bhavan this evening.
PM Modi will begin his third consecutive term as prime minister after the BJP-led NDA secured 293 seats in the Lok Sabha elections. He becomes the second Indian leader to win a third term after founding prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru.
Alongside Narendra Modi, members of his council of ministers will also take their oath this evening.
Several leaders and state heads from neighboring and Indian Ocean regions have been invited to PM Modi’s swearing-in ceremony as distinguished guests, demonstrating India’s ‘Neighbourhood First’ policy.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in an official statement on Saturday said, “President of Sri Lanka, Ranil Wickremesinghe; President of Maldives, Mohamed Muizzu; Vice-President of Seychelles, Ahmed Afif; Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina; Prime Minister of Mauritius, Pravind Kumar Jugnauth; Prime Minister of Nepal, Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’; and Prime Minister of Bhutan, Tshering Tobgay, have accepted the invitation to attend.”
Meanwhile, highlighting the significance of the event, the MEA emphasised, “The visit of the leaders to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his third consecutive term is in keeping with the highest priority accorded by India to its ‘Neighborhood First’ policy and ‘SAGAR’ vision.”
Furthermore, the MEA noted that in addition to attending the swearing-in ceremony, the leaders will also be present at a banquet hosted by President Droupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhavan later in the same evening.
Nepal’s former Prime Minister Sushil Koirala attended the inaugural swearing-in ceremony of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014. The ceremony was referred to as a mini-SAARC summit as it was attended by member nations of the regional organization.
The subsequent swearing-in ceremony also garnered attention as Modi extended invitations to countries from the BIMSTEC group. Nepal Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli attended Modi’s second swearing-in ceremony in May 2019.