NEW DELHI: Top leaders of Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Bhutan, Nepal, Mauritius and Seychelles are likely to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the weekend, authoritative sources said on Thursday.
It is learnt that India has already sent invites to Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe and some other leaders of the countries chosen to grace the ceremony.
Nepalese Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’, Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu, Bhutanese Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay, Prime Minister of Mauritius Pravind Jugnauth and President of Seychelles Wavel Ramkalawan are among the leaders being invited to Modi’s swearing-in ceremony, which is likely to take place on June 9.
Maldivian officials in Male confirmed that Muizzu along with the country’s foreign minister and a couple of other leaders will be travelling to New Delhi to attend the ceremony. This will be Muizzu’s first visit to India as the island nation’s president.
Modi is all set to take charge as the prime minister for a historic third consecutive term with the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) winning 293 seats in the Lok Sabha polls.
The guest list of foreign leaders for Modi’s swearing-in ceremony was primarily guided by New Delhi’s “Neighbourhood First Policy” and its strategic focus on island nations considered important in the Indian Ocean region, it is learnt.
The invitation to Muizzu assumes significance as it came amid frosty ties between the two countries.
The ties between India and the Maldives came under severe strain since November last year when Muizzu, known for his pro-China leanings, took charge as Maldivian president.
Within hours of his oath, he had demanded the withdrawal of Indian military personnel from his country. The Indian military personnel were replaced by civilians earlier this month.
The media division of President Wickremesinghe’s office on Wednesday said Modi invited him to the swearing-in ceremony during a phone conversation. It said Wickremesinghe accepted the invite.
“During the conversation, Prime Minister @narendramodi invited President Wickremesinghe to his swearing-in ceremony, which President @RW_UNP accepted,” it said on X.
Modi also had a phone conversation with Hasina on Wednesday. In the phone conversation, Modi invited Hasina to attend his swearing-in ceremony and she accepted it, diplomatic sources said.
Modi held separate phone conversations with Prachanda as well as Jugnauth.
On Thursday, Bhutanese PM Tobgay called up Modi and congratulated him on the victory of the NDA.
“Prime Minister Tobgay appreciated Prime Minister Modi’s visionary leadership in the last decade, and conveyed his warm wishes for his successful third term,” an Indian readout said.
“The prime minister thanked prime minister Tobgay for the warm felicitations. The prime minister conveyed that India accords the highest priority to its exemplary partnership with Bhutan,” it said.
It said India-Bhutan partnership is characterized by utmost trust, goodwill, and mutual understanding at all levels and is reinforced by robust people to people linkages and close economic and development partnership.
The leaders of regional grouping SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) countries attended Modi’s first swearing ceremony when he took the reins as the prime minister after a massive electoral victory for BJP.
Leaders of the BIMSTEC countries attended Modi’s swearing-in ceremony, in 2019 when he became prime minister for the second consecutive term.
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.
