India has invited Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu for the swearing-in ceremony of Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the weekend. He is among several leaders of neighbouring countries, including Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, who will witness Modi all set to take charge as the prime minister for a historic third consecutive term.
Muizzu was invited a day after he congratulated Modi following the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) Lok Sabha victory. “Congratulations to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and the BJP and BJP-led NDA, on the success in the 2024 Indian General Election, for the third consecutive term. I look forward to working together to advance our shared interests in pursuit of shared prosperity and stability for our two countries,” Muizzu said in a post on X.
Top leaders of Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Nepal and Mauritius are likely to be among the foreign leaders to be invited for Modi’s oath-taking ceremony. The media division of Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s office said Modi invited him to the swearing-in ceremony. It said Wickremesinghe accepted the invite and congratulated Modi on the electoral victory in a phone call.
“During the conversation, Prime Minister @narendramodi invited President Wickremesinghe to his swearing-in ceremony, which President @RW_UNP accepted,” it said. Modi also had a phone conversation with Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and invited her to attend his swearing-in ceremony which she accepted, diplomatic sources said. The people cited above said Nepalese Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’, Bhutanese Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay and Prime Minister of Mauritius Pravind Jugnauth are set to be invited to Modi’s swearing-in ceremony. Modi had a separate phone conversations with Prachanda. The formal invitations are set to be sent on Thursday, said one of the people cited above.
The leaders of regional grouping SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) countries attended Modi’s first swearing-in ceremony when he took the reins as the prime minister after a massive electoral victory for the BJP.
Leaders of the BIMSTEC countries attended Modi’s swearing-in ceremony in 2019 when he became prime minister for the second consecutive term. Modi is likely to take oath on June 8. Though the BJP could not get a majority on its own in the polls, the party-led alliance secured 293 seats out of 543. The majority mark in the Lower House is 272.